A Mechanistic Investigation of the Kinetic Resolution of Secondary Aromatic Alcohols Using a Ferrocene‐Based Planar Chiral 4‐(Dimethylamino)pyridine Catalyst

A detailed computational and kinetic analysis of the acetylation of 1-phenylethanol with acetic anhydride catalyzed by planar chiral 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP) catalyst (-)-1 is presented. The study includes a computational investigation of the potential-energy surface including the acylation and stereoselective transition states at the DFT level of theory. Experimentally, the kinetic study shows that the reaction proceeds in a first-order manner in catalyst, whereas both substrates, acetic anhydride and 1-phenylethanol, show fractional order, which is in accordance with steady-state conditions. The fractional order depends on an equilibrium between the free catalyst and the acetylated catalyst.