Long distance chiral transfer in a gel: Experimental and ab initio analyses of vibrational circular dichroism spectra of R- and S-12-hydroxyoctadecanoic acid gels

Vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectra were recorded on a benzene-d6 gel sample of R- or S-12-hydroxyoctadecanoic acid (denoted by R- or S-12-HOA, respectively). The observed peaks were well reproduced by the theoretical calculation carried out for the optimized conformation of a 12-HOA molecule. The strong bisignate peaks assigned to the stretching vibrations of CO bond in a carboxylic group were rationalized in terms of the model that two 12-HOA molecules formed a dimer through hydrogen bonding in a bent conformation.