2013 Volume 44 Issue 1 Pages 35-38
Human serum albumin (HSA) has been exploited as a biomolecular host for mediating chiral photoreactions. Thus, the enantiodifferentiating [4+4] photocyclodimerization of 2-anthracenecarboxylate (AC) mediated by HSA affords chiral AC-dimers in high enantiomeric excesses of up to 90%. Nevertheless, this bio-supramolecular photochirogenesis has not been expanded to a catalytic system or mechanistically elucidated in detail due to the complexity of the complexation and photochemical behaviors. In this account, we briefly describe our latest studies on (i) the catalytic use of HSA in the enantiodifferentiating photocyclodimerization of AC and (ii) the mechanistic elucidation of the origin of the high enantioselectivity by measuring the time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy decay.
