Elmarthy Janetty Gallarde 26693005 Section: 40814 Absolute Configuration Determination Introduction In order to further explore the absolute configuration and to emphasize its importance, the purpose of the experiment is to determine the stereoisomer of the unknown secondary alcohol. In this experiment, the unknown secondary alcohol will be identified using H1 NMR spectroscopy analysis. Additionally, the absolute configuration of the analyte will be analyzed using the competing enantioselective conversion (CEC) method. CEC method uses homobenzotetramisole (HBTM), a chiral acyl-transfer catalyst. The product will be photo analyzed in ImageJ, a photo analysis software, and will also analyzed visually in the TLC plate. Knowing the absolute configuration of a compound is of great importance as the effects of the compound differs based on its configuration. Thus, in order to place the importance of its configuration, both qualitative and quantitative analysis will be employed. Theory …show more content…
The concept of absolute configuration refers to the spatial arrangement of the atoms. In a compound with chiral groups, the chemical composition is the same; however, the arrangement of each atoms in the chiral group can be varied, enantiomers for instance refers to compounds being the mirror image of each other. Using the CEC method, the absolute configuration of the analyte will be revealed. Both enantiomer of HBTM are used for comparative analysis. If the reaction with S-HBTM is faster, then the conclusion is that the configuration of the analyte is R. If the reaction with R-HBTM is much faster, then it can be conclude that the secondary alcohol is a S configuration.