Enantioselective recognition of 1,2-amino alcohols by reversible formation of imines with resonance-assisted hydrogen bonds.

A chiral aldehyde with three H-bond donating groups (2) has been synthesized. This aldehyde binds a variety of chiral 1,2-amino alcohols in benzene with the same sense of stereoselectivity. Computational and experimental data indicate that one imine bond, one resonance-assisted H-bond to the imine nitrogen, and two H-bonds to the alcoholic oxygen all play an important role in the stereoselective recognition. [structure: see text]