Chiral lock and chiral key in inclusion crystals

Abstract

By combining the enantioselective molecular movement from a rac-guest to an optically active host in the solid state with a distillation procedure, enantiomers of the rac-guest were separated by fractional distillation. When the enantioselective molecular movement in the solid state was applied to an optically active host and an achiral guest, the inclusion complex of the host and the achiral guest in which the latter molecules are arranged in a chiral form is obtained. Photoirradiation of the inclusion crystal in the solid state gave optically active photocyclization product.