Hexol

Hexol is a cobalt compound that was first prepared by Alfred Werner in 1914 and represented the first non-carbon-containing chiral compound. The salt with the molecular formula of [Co((OH)₂Co(NH₃)₄)₃](SO₄)₃ was prepared starting from cobalt(II) sulfate.

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Optical resolution of this compound was possible by treating the hexol chloride salt with the resolving agent silver d(+)-bromocamphorsulphonate in dilute acetic acid. The d-Hexol salt precipitated out from solution and the filtrate contained the l-hexol species. Werner also published a second achiral hexol (a minor byproduct from the production of Fremy's salt) that he incorrectly identified as a linear trimer.

In 2004 the second hexol was reinvestigated and found to be a hexanuclear species.

References

• A. Werner, H. Kuh, P. Wust Ber. 1914, 47, 196
• The rediscovery of Alfred Werner's second hexol W. Gregory Jackson, Josephine A. McKeon, Margareta Zehnder, Markus Neuberger and Silvio Fallab Chemical Communications, 2004, (20), 2322 - 2323 Abstract