NMR Studies of Drugs. 5-Methyl-5-phenylhydantoin. Applications of Lanthanide Shift Reagents in Polar Solvents to a Non-Chelating Substrate

The 200.1 MHz ¹H NMR spectra of 5-methyl-5-phenylhydantoin, 1, have been studied in CD₃CN solution at ambient temperatures with the achiral shift reagent, tris (6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8-heptafluoro-2,2-dimethyl-3,5-octanedionato) europium (III), 2, and the chiral reagent, tris[3-(heptafluoropropylhydroxymethylene)-(+)-camphorato] europium (III), 3. Although 1 cannot chelate the LSRs, use of sufficiently high LSR:1 molar ratios served to compensate for competitive binding of LSR by the polar solvent, and permitted substantial lanthanide-induced shifts to be observed with 2 or 3. With 3, significant enantiomeric shift differences were produced for the ortho aryl protons and for the CH₃ signals. The ortho proton signal appears to offer excellent potential for direct determination of enantiomeric excess of 1. These results demonstrate the utility of LSRs 2 or 3 even in a polar solvent with a nonchelating substrate.