N-(2-Methoxy-1-naphthoyl)piperidine afforded chiral crystals by spontaneous crystallization, and the molecular chirality of the crystals was retained after dissolving them in a cooled solvent. An asymmetricphotocycloaddition reaction with a diene was performed using the provisional chiral molecular conformation derived from these chiral crystals.
An asymmetric S(N)Arreaction was performed by using molecular chirality generated and amplified by the spontaneous crystallization of achiral naphthamides; the chirality was retained in a cold solution, caused by slow racemization, and was transferred to stable axially chiral materials with high enantiomeric excesses.