A non-chiral lithium aluminate reagent for the determination of enantiomeric excess of chiral alcohols.

Here we illustrate a new method for the rapid determination of ee's of chiral alcohols using the thermally-stable, non-chiral lithium aluminate reagent [EtAl(6-Me-2-py)3Li] (1). In situ reaction of the alcohols with 1 produces robust dimers in solution, present as diastereomeric pairs (SS/RR and RS) with distinct resonances in their 1H and 7Li NMR spectra. The ee can be calculated simply from integration of the 1H and/or 7Li NMR spectra.