Absolute configurations of N,N-dialkyl alpha-amino acids and beta-amino alcohols from exciton-coupled circular dichroism spectra of Cu(II) complexes.

[formula: see text] A circular dichroism technique has been applied to the absolute configurational assignment of acyclic alpha-amino acids and beta-amino alcohols with single stereogenic centers via a one-step derivitization procedure requiring microgram quantities of material. Metal ions fix the geometrical relationship of two chromophores, affording CD spectra that agree with theory on the basis of the expected conformation of the ligands in the metal complexes.