Chirality control of a Cu(I) complex of boronic-acid-appended phenanthrolines by sugars. A preliminary step toward the total chain helicity control by a chain-end sugar-binding

Compound 1 which has a 1,10-phenanthroline moiety to constitute the helical structure and a boronic acid moiety to bind saccharides was synthesized. The Cu(I) complex (as 1(2) . Cu(I)) gave the different CD spectra reflecting the helicity, which is regulated by the absolute configurational structure of saccharides. Thus, the P versus M helicity of the complex can be controlled by the boronic acid-saccharide interaction. The results show that the terminal boronic acid group is useful to create chiral helical structure, the helicity of which is governed by a sugar library. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.