Sensitive and Accurate ¹³C Kinetic Isotope Effect Measurements Enabled by Polarization Transfer

Polarization transfer is demonstrated as a sensitive technique for the measurement of isotopic fractionation of protonated carbons at natural abundance. This method allows kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) to be determined with substantially less material or shorter acquisition time compared with traditional experiments. Computations quantitatively reproduce the KIEs in a Diels-Alder reaction and a catalytic glycosylation. The glycosylation is shown to occur by an effectively concerted mechanism.