Application of the 2-deoxyglucose scaffold as a new chiral probe for elucidation of the absolute configuration of secondary alcohols.

Herein, we present the application of 2-deoxy-D-glucose derivatives as chiral probes for elucidation of the absolute configuration of chiral secondary alcohols. The probes are attached to the studied molecules via glycosylation reaction and the resulting products are examined by a set of standard 2D NMR experiments. The absolute configuration of an oxymethine carbon atom binding the probe is established on a basis of a set of diagnostic dipolar couplings (NOEs/ROEs). These correlations may be considered diagnostic due to a pronounced lack of conformational freedom of the formed glycosidic linkage. While the chance for an observation of the diagnostic signals is the highest when the resulting glycoside in an α-anomer. 2-deoxy-D-glucose was selected as a probe of choice since is it known to strongly prefer the formation of α-glycosides.