Exciton Chirality. (A) Origins of and (B) Applications from Strongly Fluorescent Dipyrrinone Chromophores

(A) The origin of exciton interaction and examples of its application to organic stereochemistry are presented. (B) N,N-Carbonyl-bridged dipyrrinones constitute a new class of highly fluorescent chromophores suitable for investigations of stereochemistry and absolute configuration. N,N-Carbonylxanthobilirubic acid esters are strongly fluorescent, with a fluorescence quantum yield (_F) 0.8, but produce only weak exciton CD from the trans-1,2-cyclohexanediol template. The ester of an analog with benzoic acid replacing propionic, N,N-carbonyl-8-(4-carboxyphenyl)-3-ethyl-2,7,9-trimethyl-(10H)-dipyrrin-1-one, exhibits strong fluorescence (_F=0.68, _em=493nm, _ex=422nm in CHCl₃) and UV-Vis absorption (21000 at 424nm) in organic solvents. Its diester with (1S,2S)-cyclohexanediol is fluorescent and exhibits exciton circular dichroism (=+15dm³·mol^–1·cm^–1, =432nm; =–4dm³·mol^–1cm^–1, =380nm) that correlates with the Exciton Chirality Rule.