Solvation dependence observed in the electronic dissymmetry factor spectra: how much information are we missing by analyzing the circular dichroism spectra alone?

A study utilizing the newly developed electronic dissymmetry factor (EDF) spectral analysis reveals that for [1,1′-binaphthalene]-2,2′-diol (BN) the experimental EDF spectra show differences due to solvent complexation following the trend in solvent polarity, that are not apparent in the electronic circular dichroism (ECD) or corresponding electronic absorption (EA) spectra. Large experimental EDF spectral magnitudes for BN are seen to peak in regions with no corresponding peaks in the EA spectrum and only a shoulder in the ECD spectrum. This observation indicates that EDF analysis is a new complementary method to conventional ECD analysis of chiral molecules. TD-DFT calculations predict similar EDF peaks as in the experimental EDF spectra, however, the experimentally observed solvation dependent behaviour of the EDF peaks was not reproduced in the calculations. Studies on 6,6′-dibromo-[1,1′-binaphthalene]-2,2′-diol also show similar characteristics in the EDF spectra, though not as pronounced and with different solvent effects. This report thus identifies a new means of chiral molecular structural analysis, hitherto unnoticed, and establishes the use of the dissymmetry factor spectrum as yielding new insight, but at no added cost.