Spontaneous Resolution upon Crystallization and Preferential Induction of Chirality in a Discrete Tetrahedral Zinc(II) Complex Comprised of Achiral Precursors.

A pair of enantiomeric tetrahedral complexes (Λ-[Zn(L)2] and Δ-[Zn(L)2]) comprised of the achiral ligand methyl-3-hydroxy-3-phenyl-2-propenedithioate (L) have been synthesized by spontaneous resolution. Two chiral inducers, viz., d-(-)- and l-(+)-tartaric and mandelic acids, have been employed to achieve bulk homochirality and extend the generality of the present work. The work highlights the achievement of bulk homochirality using readily available chiral inducers in the synthesis of a spontaneously resolving chiral tetrahedral zinc(II) complex using achiral starting materials. These findings are established by 30 sets of single-crystal X-ray diffraction data with refined Flack parameters and circular dichroism spectroscopy.