Dirhodium complexes: determination of absolute configuration by the exciton chirality method using VCD spectroscopy

Abstract

Inherently chiral dinuclear rhodium complexes have been synthesized from the well-known dirhodium(II)-acetate and chiral/achiral amino acids. These complexes have a twisted paddlewheel structure due to axial chirality. Chiral induction could be observed when the ligands were chiral, opposite to the case of achiral ligands, where a racemic mixture was formed. The racemic mixture was separated by chiral HPLC-ECD. The stereochemical properties of these complexes were determined by VCD spectroscopy supported by theoretical calculations at the DFT level. We present a simple route to determine the absolute configuration by an exciton chirality method using VCD spectroscopy.