A CORRELATION BETWEEN THE ABSOLUTE-CONFIGURATIONS OF ACYCLIC ALIPHATIC AND BENZYLIC SECONDARY ALCOHOLS AND THE OPTICAL ROTATIONS OF THEIR 2,4-DINITROBENZENESULFENYL DERIVATIVES

The 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfenate esters 2a-v of 11 acyclic aliphatic and 11 benzylic chiral secondary alcohols of known configuration were synthesized, and their sodium D line optical rotations and CD spectra were determined. The sign of the sodium D line rotations of the derivatives was consistently correlated with the absolute configuration of the carbinol carbon in the original alcohols. The CD spectra exhibited optically active transitions in the 320-400-nm region that corresponded in sign to the sodium D line optical rotations and were strong enough to dominate the sign of rotation at the sodium D line. Thus the optical rotations and CD spectra of these sulfenate ester derivatives are diagnostic for the absolute configurations of chiral secondary acyclic aliphatic and benzylic alcohols.