A paper by Prof Phil Page and collaborators has been selected as an Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry Hot Article.

The group discovered a systematic error in HPLC measurements of the enantiomeric excess of N-arene-sulfonyl-2-phenylaziridines.They showed that the heterogeneous or homogeneous copper-catalysed synthesis of N-arene-sulfonyl-2-phenlaziridines mainly yields the R enantiomer. However previous reports significantly over-estimate the percentage enantiomeric excess when hexane was used as the HPLC injection solvent, due to the formation of an insoluble racemic phase.The group has improved their analytical procedure to afford the correct value, but advise that previous reports on the enantioselectivity of copper-catalysed aziridination reactions ‘should be regarded with caution if the analytical procedure involved HPLC’.  Download the article today – it’s now free to access until 8th February.On the enantioselectivity of aziridination of styrene catalysed by copper triflate and copper-exchanged zeolite Y: consequences of the phase behaviour of enantiomeric mixtures of N-arene-sulfonyl-2-phenylaziridines.Laura Jeffs, Damien Arquier, Benson Kariuki, Donald Bethell, Philip C. Bulman Page and Graham J. Hutchings.