Cubane Chirality via Substitution of a “Hidden” Regular Tetrahedron

Abstract

In the hexahedral hydrocarbon cubane, replacing hydrogen with other atoms at three positions within any one of the internal tetrahedrons can conceptually lead to the formation of a unique class of chiral molecules. In pursuit of this endeavor, we prepared 1,3-dibromo-4-deuteriocubane-<i>N</i>,<i>N</i>-diisopropylcarboxamide, which upon treatment with zincates affords 1,3,5-trisubstituted cubanes via simultaneous two-position substitution reactions. The proposed chiral attributes of this stereogeometric class were confirmed by enantiomeric resolution of a <i>p</i>-bromobenzyl derivative using chiral HPLC.