Valine derived poly (acetylenes) as versatile chiral lyotropic liquid crystalline alignment media for RDC-based structure elucidations.

Anisotropic samples of lyotropic liquid crystalline (LLC) phases of valine derived polyaryl acetylenes were employed as chiral alignment media for the measurement of residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) of 12 small, chiral, organic molecules. The quadrupolar splitting of the deuterium signal of CDCl3 can be adjusted by temperature and concentration changes from 0 to 350 Hz. The LLC phases showed excellent orienting properties for all analytes bearing various functional groups. The precise extraction of RDCs in the range of up to ±30 Hz from F2-coupled HSQC spectra was possible. Additionally, the chiral environment led to diastereomorphous interactions with the enantiomers of chiral analytes leading to two different sets of RDCs. This differential order effect was particularly pronounced with H-bond donors like alcohols and 2° amines.