Enantiomers of dimethyl [(2E)-1,3-diphenylprop-2-en-1-yl]propanedioate resulting from allylic alkylation reaction: Elution order on major high-performance liquid chromatography chiral columns

Asymmetric allylic alkylation leading to dimethyl [(2E)-1,3-diphenylprop-2-en-1-yl]propanedioate 1 is a privileged reaction which has been considered in more than 800 references from 1985 to early 2012. This paper thus begins with a thorough review of the literature with a particular focus on the way the ee's and absolute configuration of the prevailing enantiomer were claimed and reported by the authors. In a large majority of articles chiral chromatography is used for ee's determination. Unfortunately, in too many cases the data, the column or the eluent are not provided. In a significant proportion (5%) the column name is ambiguous. Furthermore, several discrepancies are detected in the assigned order of elution when chiral chromatography data are provided. We therefore decided to firmly establish the chromatographic behavior of the enantiomers of 1, which were obtained from the corresponding racemate by semi-preparative chiral chromatography and their absolute configuration assigned by ECD and VCD spectroscopies. ORD curves show that optical rotation is very weak at 350 nm with indication of inversion of the sign at lower wavelengths. It results in a low sensitivity for on line JASCO polarimeter detector. Chiroptical detection was nicely performed by on line JASCO CD detector set at 254 nm: (-)-(S)-1 shows a (+)-CD(254 nm) sign. Pure enantiomers of authenticated absolute configuration allowed a safe assignment of the order of elution during HPLC or SFC on major chiral stationary phases. Quite interestingly for practical application, the order of elution is reversed on Chiralpak AD-H and IA on going from hexane/EtOH to hexane/2-PrOH in HPLC or on going from CO(2)/EtOH (or MeOH) to CO(2)/2-PrOH in SFC.