Chemical Synthesis of [2H]-Ethyl Tosylate and Exploration of Its Crypto-optically Active Character Combining Complementary Spectroscopic Tools.

Small chiral molecules are excellent candidates to push the boundaries of enantiodiscrimination analytical techniques. Here is reported the synthesis of two new deuterated chiral probes, (R)- and (S)-[2H]-ethyl tosylate, obtained with high enantiomeric excesses. Due to their crypto-optically active properties, the discrimination of each enantiomer is challenging. Whereas their enantiopurity is determined by 2H NMR in chiral anisotropic media, their identification was performed by combining quantum chemical calculations and vibrational circular dichroism analysis.