Interpretation of enantioresolution in nordeoxycholic acid channels based on the four-location model

Nordeoxycholic acid (NDCA) forms three kinds of host frameworks, M1, M2, and M3, with channels where aliphatic alcohols (1-7) are accommodated. (13)C-NMR studies clarified that racemic alcohols 1- or 2-6 are enclosed in the M1- or M2-type channel with lower than 15% enantiomeric excess, respectively, while 3-methyl-2-pentanol (7) is done in the M3-type with 47% ee. These inclusion phenomena can be explained due to the Difference Fourier maps of electron densities of their enantiomers in the channels. In addition, analysis of the manner of packing indicates that four locations in the channels should be fixed for the enantioresolution of the alcohols. These results support the four-location model, which has been proposed by Mesecar et al.(20) with respect to enantioresolution on protein surfaces.