Enantiomers of dimethyl [(2E)-1,3-diphenylprop-2-en-1-yl]propanedioate resulting from allylic alkylation reaction: elution order on major high-performance liquid chromatography chiral columns.

Asymmetric allylic alkylation leading to dimethyl [(2E)-1,3-diphenylprop-2-en-1-yl]propanedioate 1 is a privileged reaction which has been considered in more than 800 references from 1985 to early 2012. This paper thus begins with a thorough review of the literature with a particular focus on the way the ee's and absolute configuration of the prevailing enantiomer were claimed and reported by the authors. In a large majority of articles chiral chromatography is used for ee's determination.