Determination of the absolute configuration of 1-arylethane-1,2-diols by anonempirical analysis of the CD spectra of their 4-biphenylboronates

[GRAPHICS] 1-Arylethane-1,2-diols 1, reacting with 4-biphenylboronic acid 2, form the conformationally defined boronates 3 where the aryl and biphenyl chromophor es assume a fixed and known relative disposition. These chromophores thus d efine an exciton coupled system, whose chirality (revealed by the sign of t he biphenyl On band at 260 nm) allows an unambiguous assignment of the abso lute configuration of the stereogenic center. This approach provides the hi therto unreported absolute configuration of diols 1c-f.