Tetrahydro-1,4-epoxynaphthalene-1-carboxylic acid: a chiral derivatizing agent for the determination of the absolute configuration of secondary alcohols

A new chiral derivatizing agent, tetrahydro-1,4-epoxynaphthalene-1-carboxylic acid (THENA), with a represented syn-periplanar disposition of O–Cα–CO as a part of the bicyclic system to lock the aromatic residue conformation and the availability of an internal reference proton for 1H NMR spectral alignment, is introduced. In the determination of the absolute configuration of chiral secondary alcohols, THENA offered good uniformity of Δδ with high reliability, resulting in unambiguous assignment of the absolute configuration.