upon β-elimination, so the fluorescence decrease is an indicator of the reaction yield. Thus, the enantioselectivity of kineticresolutioncatalysts can be assessed simply by measuring the fluorescence intensities of the reaction mixtures of the two enantiomers; it is not necessary to purify the product. This fluorescence probe revealed that benzotetramisole is a superior catalyst for kinetic resolution
The scalable, chromatography-free synthesis of the chiral isothiourea benzotetramisole (BTM) in two steps from commercially available materials is presented. A detailed procedure for the synthesis of both enantiomers and the racemate on ca. 10 gram scale is disclosed.