A molecular dynamics study of chirality transfer: The impact of a chiral solute on an achiral solvent

A solvation shell may adapt to the presence of a chiral solute by becoming chiral. The extent of this chirality transfer and its dependence on the solute and solvent characteristics are explored in this article. Molecular dynamics simulations of solvated chiral analytes form the basis of the analysis. The chirality induced in the solvent is assessed based on a series of related chirality indexes originally proposed by Osipov M. A. Osipov et al., Mol. Phys. 84, 1193 (1995)]. Two solvents are considered: Ethanol and benzyl alcohol. Ethanol provides insight into chirality transfer when the solvent interacts with the solute primarily by a hydrogen bond. Several ethanol models have been considered starting with a nonpolarizable model, progressing to a fluctuating charge model, and finally, to a fully polarizable model. This progression provides some insights into the importance of solvent polarizability in the transfer of chirality. Benzyl alcohol, by virtue of the aromatic ring, increases the number of potential solvent-solute interactions. Thus, with these two solvents, the issue of compatibility between the solvent and solute is also considered. The solvation of three chiral solutes is examined: Styrene oxide, acenaphthenol, and n-(1-(4-bromophenyl)ethyl)pivalamide (PAMD). All three solutes have the possibility of hydrogen bonding with the solvent, the last two may also form ring-ring interactions, and the last also has multiple hydrogen bonding sites. For PAMD, the impact of conformational averaging is examined by comparing the chirality transfer about rigid and flexible solutes.