An NMR method towards the routine chiral determination of natural products

State-of-the-art structure elucidation and dereplication of natural products is incomplete without the determination of enantiomeric purity, especially when compounds are to be biologically evaluated. An NMR procedure is presented in order to distinguish and determine enantiomers in natural product samples. The method is also of value in the structure elucidation process by providing information, which is otherwise of a non-routine nature. Using enantiomeric 1-acetoxychavicol acetates and carvones as model compounds, this study presents a chiral NMR procedure that allows distinction and determination of chiral antipodes of natural products in a routine set-up.