Assignment of the Crystal Structure to the Aza-Pinacol Coupling Product by X-ray Diffraction and Density Functional Theory Modeling.

Aza-pinacol coupling of N-benzyl-1-phenylmethanimine using Zn dust affords a mixture of R,S- or R,R-diastereomers in a 1:1 ratio. The R,S-diastereomer is solid with an m.p. of 135 °C, while the R,R-diastereomer is liquid at room temperature. The configuration of stereocenters was determined by combining X-ray powder diffraction and density functional theory (DFT) modeling.