Enantiomers
of a series of hydantoin derivatives were prepared
from d- and l-amino acids with p-tolyl isocyanate and 3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl isocyanate as
guests for chiral recognition by 1H NMR spectroscopy. Meanwhile,
several tetraaza macrocyclic compounds were synthesized as chiral
solvating agents from d-phenylalanine and (1S,2S)-(+)-1,2-diaminocyclohexane. An uncommon enantiomeric
discrimination has been successfully established for hydantoin derivatives,
representatives of five-membered N,N-heterocycles, in the presence
of tetraaza macrocyclic chiral solvating agents (TAMCSAs) 1a–1c by means of 1H NMR spectroscopy. Several unprecedented
nonequivalent chemical shifts (up to 1.309 ppm) were observed in the
split 1H NMR spectra. To evaluate practical applications
in the determination of enantiomeric excess (ee), the ee values of
samples with different optical purities (up to 95% ee) were accurately
calculated by the integration of relevant proton peaks. To better
understand the chiral discriminating behavior, Job plots of (±)-G1 with TAMCSA 1a were investigated. Furthermore,
in order to further explore any underlying intermolecular hydrogen
bonding interactions, theoretical calculations of the enantiomers
of (S)-G1 and (R)-G1 with TAMCSA 1a were performed by means of the
hybrid density functional theory (B3LYP/6-31G*) of the Gaussian 16
program.