Spin-selective correlation experiment for measurement of long-range J couplings and for assignment of (R/S) enantiomers from the residual dipolar couplings and DFT.

We report the C-HETSERF experiment for determination of long- and short-range homo- and heteronuclear scalar couplings ((n)J(HH) and (n)J(XH), n ≥ 1) of organic molecules with a low sensitivity dilute heteronucleus in natural abundance. The method finds significant advantage in measurement of relative signs of long-range heteronuclear total couplings in chiral organic liquid crystal. The advantage of the method is demonstrated for the measurement of residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) in enantiomers oriented in the chiral liquid crystal with a focus to unambiguously assign R/S designation in a 2D spectrum. The alignment tensor calculated from the experimental RDCs and with the computed structures of enantiomers obtained by DFT calculations provides the size of the back-calculated RDCs. Smaller root-mean-square deviations (rmsd) between experimental and calculated RDCs indicate better agreement with the input structure and its correct designation of the stereogenic center.