Water-MediatedChiral Resolution of Ag–NHC(Nucleobase)Complexes

This study reveals a novel role of water as a chiral inducer, demonstrating its ability to drive the asymmetric resolution of prochiral silver-nucleobase complexes. During crystallization, helical water columns spontaneously form, selectively recognizing one enantiomer of the silver complex. This enantiospecific interaction drives the separation of the <i>P</i> and <i>M</i> enantiomers, leading to the formation of enantiopure crystals, whose chirality was confirmed through X-ray crystallography.