CHAPTER 10: Question 9

 

2D Explanations

The two carbonyl groups of the anhydride are enantiotopic, thus when a chiral reagent reacts with the anhydride, then both the products and transition states of the reaction will be diastereomeric and hence of different energies as shown below. It is the energy difference between the diastereomeric transition states that is responsible for the observed stereoselectivity.


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