Axially chiral 2-arylimino-3-aryl-thiazolidine-4-one derivatives: enantiomeric separation and determination of racemization barriers by chiral HPLC.

Axially chiral 2-arylimino-3-aryl-thiazolidine-4-ones have been synthesized as racemic mixtures, and each mixture with the exception of 2-(o-chlorophenyl)imino-3-(o-chlorophenyl)-thiazolidine-4-one has been converted to the corresponding 5-benzylidene-2-arylimino-3-aryl-thiazolidine-4-one racemates by reaction with benzaldehyde. The thermally interconvertible enantiomers of each compound have been obtained by enantioselective HPLC separation on columns Chiralpak AD-H and Chiralcel OD-H, and the barriers to racemization have been found to be 98.1-114.1 kJ/mol. The barriers determined were compared to those of structurally related compounds to provide evidence for the stereochemistry of the aryl imino bond.