New chiral recognition ability of a steroidal bile acid; direct evidence for efficient optical resolution of racemic lactones by cholic acid inclusion crystals

Abstract

A new chiral recognition ability has been found for cholic acid inclusion crystals, in which only one enantiomer of a guest lactone can be accommodated in the channels of the host steroidal molecules by crystallization from racemic solution; direct evidence for this phenomenon was obtained from the crystal structure of the 1 : 1 inclusion compound between cholic acid and γ-valerolactone.