Chiral hosts derived from dimeric tartaric acid: Efficient optical resolution of aliphatic alcohols by inclusion complexation

The novel, chiral, host compounds 8 and 9 were derived from tartaric acid. Inclusion complexation with these host compounds permitted highly efficient resolution of some aliphatic alcohols (10-13). The symmetrical dimer host compound 8 is effective for optical resolution of alcohols 10, 12, and 13 b y a combination of enantioselective inclusion complexation and distillation techniques. The unsymmetrical dimer host compound 9 is effective for optic al resolution of cyanohydrin 11. The crystal structures of the inclusion co mplexes were analyzed by X-ray diffraction methods in order to elucidate th e mechanism of the efficient chiral recognition in the inclusion crystals.