Axial chirality in biaryl N,N-dialkylaminopyridine derivatives bearing an internal carboxy group.

Axial chirality in N,N-dimethylaminopyridines as well as N,N-dipropylaminopyridines bearing an internal carboxy group were evaluated based on their racemization barriers and circular dichroism spectra. The half-life of racemization of N,N-dipropylaminopyridine derivative 2 was estimated to be 19.7 days at 20°C. Its enantiomers isolated as optically active forms showed positive-negative and negative-positive Cotton effects for (+)-2 and (-)-2, respectively, from 310 to 210 nm. Furthermore, (-)-2 was applied as a chiral nucleophilic catalyst and exhibited asymmetric induction in acylative kinetic resolution of 1-(1-naphthyl)ethane-1-ol.