A Symmetric Recognition Motif between Vicinal Diols: The Fourfold Grip in Ethylene Glycol Dimer.
Ethylene glycol has a transiently chiral, asymmetric global minimum structure, but it favors a highly symmetric, achiral dimer arrangement which has not been considered or found in previous quantum-chemical studies. Complementary FTIR and Raman spectroscopy in supersonic jets allows for the detection and straightforward assignment of this four-fold hydrogen-bonded dimer, which introduces an interesting supramolecular binding motif for vicinal diols and provides a strong case for transient chirality synchronization.
['Kollipost|Franz|F|http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3315-9638', 'Otto|Katharina E|KE|http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9573-5808', 'Suhm|Martin A|MA|http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8841-7705']
dimers hydrogen bonds molecular recognition racemization vibrational spectroscopy