Enantiomeric visualization using proton-decoupled natural abundance deuterium NMR in poly(γ-benzyl-l-glutamate) liquid crystalline solutions

International audienceWe report the first visualization of chiral molecules oriented in a polypeptide liquid crystalline system (PBLG)using proton-decoupled natural abundance deuterium NMR. The chiral discrimination is observed through measurementsof the quadrupolar splitting differences and we demonstrate that the sensitivity of natural abundancedeuterium NMR is sufficient to measure the differentiai ordering effects (DOEs) without the need for isotopieenrichment. The feasibility and the potential of this novel method were investigated using a 5.87 T spectrometer(proton frequency 250 MHz). Severa! examples of chiral discrimination are presented and particular emphasis isgiven to demonstrate the potential of this approach