Towards the chiral metabolomics: Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry based dl-amino acid analysis after labeling with a new chiral reagent, (S)-2,5-dioxopyrrolidin-1-yl-1-(4,6-dimethoxy-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)pyrrolidine-2-carboxylate,and the application to saliva of healthy volunteers

A novel triazine-type chiral derivatization reagent, i.e., (S)-2,5-dioxopyrrolidin-1-yl-1-(4,6-dimethoxy-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl) pyrrolidine-2-carboxylate (DMT-(S)-Pro-OSu), was developed for the highly sensitive and selective detection of chiral amines and amino acids by UPLC–MS/MS analysis. The enantiomers of amino acids were easily labeled with the reagents at room temperature within 40 min in an alkaline medium containing triethylamine. The diastereomers derived from proteolytic amino acids, except serine, were well separated under isocratic elution conditions by reversed-phase chromatography using an ODS column (R_s = 1.2–9.0). dl-Serine was separated by use of an ADME column which has relatively higher polar surface than the conventional ODS column. The characteristic product ions, i.e., m/z 195.3 and m/z 209.3, were detected from all the diastereomers by the collision-induced dissociation of the protonated molecule. A highly sensitive detection on the amol–fmol level was obtained from the selected reaction monitoring (SRM) chromatogram. The chiral amines (e.g., adrenaline and noradrenaline) labeled with DMT-(S)-Pro-OSu were also well separated and sensitively detected by the present procedure. The method using DMT-(S)-Pro-OSu was used for the determination of dl-amino acids in the human saliva from healthy volunteers. Various l-amino acids were identified in the saliva. Furthermore, d-alanine (d-Ala) and d-proline (d-Pro) were also detected in relatively high concentrations (>5%). The ratio was higher in male saliva than in female saliva. However, the difference in the ratio of d-Ala for one day was not very high and the effect of foods and beverage seemed to be negligible. Based on the results using l-Ala-d₃, the d-Ala in saliva seemed to be produced due to the racemization with some enzymes such as racemase. The racemization reaction was reversible, i.e., d-Ala-d₃ was also racemized to l-Ala-d₃ in saliva. Thus, care should be taken during the analysis of dl-amino acids in saliva. The present method using DMT-(S)-Pro-OSu may be applicable for the determination of chiral amine metabolomics, because the resulting derivatives produce the same product ions without relation to the compounds and show highly sensitive detection in the SRM mode of MS/MS. Consequently, DMT-(S)-Pro-OSu seems to be a useful chiral derivatization reagent for the determination of amines and amino acids in biological samples.     

Relative quantification of enantiomers of chiral amines by high-throughput LC–ESI-MS/MS using isotopic variants of light and heavy l-pyroglutamic acids as the derivatization reagents

l-Pyroglutamic acid (l-PGA) was evaluated as a chiral labeling reagent for the enantioseparation of chiral amines in terms of separation efficiency by reversed-phase chromatography and detection sensitivity by ESI-MS/MS. Several amines and amino acid methyl esters were used as typical representatives of the chiral amines. Both enantiomers of the chiral amines were easily labeled with l-PGAs at room temperature for 60 min in the presence of 1-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-3-ethylcarbodiimide and 1-hydroxy-1H-benzotriazole as the activation reagents. The resulting diastereomers were completely separated by reversed-phase chromatography using the small particle (1.7 μm) ODS column (Rs = 1.6–6.8). A highly sensitive detection at a low-fmol level (1–4 fmol) was also obtained from the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) chromatograms. Therefore, a high-throughput determination was achieved by the present UPLC–ESI-MS/MS method.     

Reversal of the enantiomeric elution order of some aromatic amino acids using reversed-phase chromatographic supports coated with the teicoplanin chiral selector

In this paper, two chiral stationary phases were prepared by coating the surface of both C8 and C18 high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) supports with the teicoplanin chiral selector. The hydrophobic C11 acyl side chain, attached to the d-glucosamine group of teicoplanin, served as anchor moiety for the immobilization of the chiral selector on the apolar support material. The retention and enantioselectivity of these coated stationary phases were studied using some aromatic amino acids as probe solutes and an aqueous solution as mobile phase. It was found that the enantiomer elution order on the modified C8 and C18 stationary phases was reversed (l > d) relatively to that classically observed with a teicoplanin covalently immobilized on a silica support (d > l). Such a dynamic coating on the reversed-phase supports was found to be of interest since the apparent enantioselectivity was not significantly changed by the use during an extended period of time or following a long-term storage of the columns.     

Electrochromatographic enantioseparation using chiral ligand exchange monolithic sol-gel column

This paper describes the development of a monolithic sol-gel column modified with l-hydroxyproline as a ligand exchange chiral stationary phase. It has been demonstrated that the monolithic chiral stationary phase can be used for the enantioseparation of dansyl amino acids, free amino acids, hydroxy acids, and dipeptides by capillary electrochromatography and micro-liquid chromatography. The recommended mobile phase was acetonitrile/0.50 mM Cu(Ac)₂-50 mM NH₄Ac (7:3) adjusted to pH 6.5. The characteristics of the monolithic column using hydroxyproline as chiral selector in CEC have been discussed.     

Separation of chiral primary amino compounds by forming a sandwiched complex in reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography

Separation of chiral primary amino compounds was efficiently achieved under reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) conditions using a mixture of non-chiral crown ether (18-crown-6) and dimethyl-β-cyclodextrin (DM-β-CD) in the mobile phase. Under these conditions, the amino group of the chiral compound was protonated in a low pH mobile phase, and then interacted with 18-crown-6 and DM-β-CD to form a sandwiched complex [18-crown-6 + amine + CD]. Enantiomers of the compound in the sandwiched complex were separated with good enantioselectivity. Formation of the sandwiched complex among the chiral compound and additives in the mobile phase is a key step of the chiral separation. Four different chiral amino compounds namely, 1-aminoindan (AI), 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-1-naphthylamine (THNA), tyrosine (Tyr), and phenylalanine (Phe), were selected to demonstrate the separation using the sandwiched complex mechanism in RP-HPLC.     

A novel cyclic hexapeptide as chiral selector: Application for HPLC separation of a series of dansyl amino and arylalkanoic acids

In this paper, the synthesis of a cyclic hexapeptide molecule was presented and evaluated for the enantiomer separation of a series of dansyl amino and arylalkanoic acids using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). It was clearly vizualized that this chiral selector allowed the separation of a great number of enantiomer pairs. The influences of the size and the hydrogen bonding donor (HBD) parameter of the organic modifier (OM) (THF (HBD = 0.00), propan-2-ol (HBD = 0.33), methanol (HBD = 0.43)) added in the mobile phase were also investigated on both the enantiomer-chiral selector association and enantioseparation.     

Determination of chiral pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs in wastewater and sludge using microwave assisted extraction,solid-phase extraction and chiral liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry

This is the first study presenting a multi-residue method allowing for comprehensive analysis of several chiral pharmacologically active compounds (cPACs) including beta-blockers, antidepressants and amphetamines in wastewater and digested sludge at the enantiomeric level. Analysis of both the liquid and solid matrices within wastewater treatment is crucial to being able to carry out mass balance within these systems. The method developed comprises filtration, microwave assisted extraction and solid phase extraction followed by chiral liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry to analyse the enantiomers of 18 compounds within all three matrices. The method was successfully validated for 10 compounds within all three matrices (amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDMA, MDA, venlafaxine, desmethylvenlafaxine, citalopram, metoprolol, propranolol and sotalol), 7 compounds validated for the liquid matrices only (mirtazapine, salbutamol, fluoxetine, desmethylcitalopram, atenolol, ephedrine and pseudoephedrine) and 1 compound (alprenolol) passing the criteria for solid samples only. The method was then applied to wastewater samples; cPACs were found at concentration ranges in liquid matrices of: 1.7 ng L⁻¹ (metoprolol) – 1321 ng L⁻¹ (tramadol) in influent, <LOD (desmethylcitalopram and metoprolol) – 506 ng L⁻¹ in effluent, and in solid matrix digested sludge: 0.4 ng g⁻¹ (metoprolol) – 275 ng g⁻¹ (citalopram). Enantiomeric profiling revealed that studied compounds were present in analysed samples in non-racemic composition. Furthermore, enantiomeric composition of studied analytes differed in liquid and solid matrices. This demonstrates that not analysing the solid fraction of wastewater may lead to over-estimation of the removal rates of cPACs as well as possible misrepresentation of the enantiomeric fraction of the compounds as they leave the wastewater treatment plant. Consequently risks from cPACs entering the environment might be higher than anticipated.     

An on-column derivatization method for the determination of the enantiomeric excess of chiral primary amines via indirect enantioseparation by micellar electrokinetic chromatography

A method used for determining the enantiomeric excess (ee) value of chiral amino compounds by MEKC is described. In this method, the plug-plug type electrophoretic medicated microanalysis technique was employed to convert the enantiomers of chiral amino compounds into their diastereomers through an on-column derivatization with o-phthaldialdehyde and the chiral reagent N-acetyl-L-cysteine. Afterwards, the resulting diastereomers were easily separated with a nonchiral MEKC approach. The on-column derivatization conditions and the separation conditions were optimized and the method was validated with five chiral amino compounds. The present method can be used for assaying the ee value of chiral amino compound with various structural features, especially for those that have no UV chromophore. Therefore, the method can be potentially used for screening or evaluation of the asymmetric catalysts developed by the combinatorial chemistry. In this case, the ee values of chiral products with various structures need to be measured; however, this is difficult for direct chiral separation approach due to the fact that the chiral selectivity is strongly dependent on the structure of the analytes. The method is simple, reliable, and automatic.     

Enantiomeric analysis of methotrexate in pharmaceuticals by cyclodextrin-modified capillary electrophoresis

A capillary electrophoresis for the chiral separation of racemic methotrexate (rac-MTX) was developed and validated. The two enantiomers were separated by using fused-silica capillary and a running buffer containing phosphate and hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD). Several parameters were studied, including concentration and pH of phosphate buffer, separation voltage, and type and concentration of CD. The quantitative ranges were 12.5-200.0 μM for each enantiomer. The intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations (R.S.D.) and relative errors (R.E.) (n=5) were all <5%. The detection limits were found to be about 4 μM (S/N=3, injection 5 s) at 280 nm. All recoveries were greater than 93%. This method was applied to the assay of l-MTX in pharmaceuticals.     

Enantiomeric separation of unusual secondary aromatic amino acids

Summary High-performance liquid chromatographic and gas chromatographic methods were developed for the separation of unusual secondary aromatic amino acids. Amino acids containing 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline, 1,2,3,4-tetrahydronorharmane-1-carboxylic acid and 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-3-carboxy-2-carboline moieties were synthetized in racemic or chiral forms. The high-performance liquid chromatography was carried out either on a teicoplanin-containing chiral stationary phase or on an achiral C₁₈ column. In the latter case the diastereomers of the amino acids formed by precolumn derivatization with the chiral reagents 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-β-D-glucopyranosyl isothiocyanate or 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrophenyl-5-L-alanine amide were separated. The gas chromatographic analyses were based on separation on a Chirasil-L-Val column. Presented at: Balaton Symposium on High-Performance Separation Methods, Siófok, Hungary, September 3–5, 1997     

Enantioselective capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry of amino acids in cerebrospinal fluid using a chiral derivatizing agent and volatile surfactant

The sensitivity of coupled enantioselective capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE-MS) of amino acids (AAs) is often hampered by the chiral selectors in the background electrolyte (BGE). A new method is presented in which the use of a chiral selector is circumvented by employing (+)-1-(9-fluorenyl)ethyl chloroformate (FLEC) as chiral AA derivatizing agent and ammonium perfluorooctanoate (APFO) as a volatile pseudostationary phase for separation of the formed diastereomers. Efficient AA derivatization with FLEC was completed within 10 min. Infusion experiments showed that the APFO concentration hardly affects the MS response of FLEC-AAs and presents significantly less ion suppression than equal concentrations of ammonium acetate. The effect of the pH and APFO concentration of the BGE and the capillary temperature were studied in order to achieve optimized enantioseparation. Optimization of CE-MS parameters, such as sheath-liquid composition and flow rate, ESI and MS settings was performed in order to prevent analyte fragmentation and achieve sensitive detection. Selective detection and quantification of 14 chiral proteinogenic AAs was achieved with chiral resolution between 1.2 and 8.6, and limits of detection ranging from 130 to 630 nM injected concentration. Aspartic acid and glutamic acid were detected, but not enantioseparated. The optimized method was applied to the analysis of chiral AAs in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Good linearity (R² > 0.99) and acceptable peak area and electrophoretic mobility repeatability (RSDs below 21% and 2.4%, respectively) were achieved for the chiral proteinogenic AAs, with sensitivity and chiral resolution mostly similar to obtained for standard solutions. Next to l-AAs, endogenous levels of d-serine and d-glutamine could be measured in CSF revealing enantiomeric ratios of 4.8%–8.0% and 0.34%–0.74%, respectively, and indicating the method's potential for the analysis of low concentrations of d-AAs in presence of abundant l-AAs.     

Stereoselective quantitation of mecoprop and dichlorprop in natural waters by supramolecular solvent-based microextraction,chiral liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry

Liquid chromatography (LC)/tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) after supramolecular solvent-based microextraction (SUSME) was firstly used in this work for the enantioselective determination of chiral pesticides in natural waters. The method developed for the quantitation of the R- and S-enantiomers of mecoprop (MCPP) and dichlorprop (DCPP) involved the extraction of the herbicides in a supramolecular solvent (SUPRAS) made up of reverse aggregates of dodecanoic acid (DoA), analyte re-extraction in acetate buffer (pH = 5.0), separation of the target enantiomers on a chiral column of permethylated α-cyclodextrin under isocratic conditions, and detection of the daughter ions (m/z = 140.9 and 160.6 for MCPP and DCPP, respectively) using a hybrid triple quadrupole mass spectrometer equipped with an electrospray source operating in the negative ion mode. Similar recoveries (ca. 75%) and actual concentration factors (ca. 94) were obtained for both phenoxypropanoic acids (PPAs). The quantitation limits were 1 ng L⁻¹ for R- and S-MCPP, and 4 ng L⁻¹ for R- and S-DCPP, and the precision, expressed as relative standard deviation (n = 6) was in the ranges 2.4–2.7% ([R-MCPP] = [S-MCPP] = 5 ng L⁻¹ and [R-DCPP] = [S-DCPP] = 15 ng L⁻¹) and 1.6–1.8% (100 ng L⁻¹ of each enantiomer). The SUSME-LC–MS/MS method was successfully applied to the determination of the enantiomers of MCPP and DCPP in river and underground waters, fortified at concentrations between 15 and 180 ng L⁻¹ at variable enantiomeric ratios (ER = 1–9).     

Enantiomeric resolution of biomarkers in space analysis: Chemical derivatization and signal processing for gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis of chiral amino acids

The work compares two GC–MS methods for enantioselective separation of amino acids as suitable candidate for stereochemical analysis of chiral amino acids on board spacecrafts in space exploration missions of solar system body environments. Different derivatization reagents are used: a mixture of alkyl chloroformate–alcohol–pyridine to obtain the alkyl alkoxy carbonyl esters and a mixture of perfluorinated alcohols and anhydrides to form perfluoroacyl perfluoroalkyl esters. 20 proteinogenic amino acids were derivatized with the two procedures and submitted to GC–MS analysis on a Chirasil-l-Val stationary phase. The results were then compared in terms of the enantiomeric separation achieved and intensity of MS response. The combination of methyl chloroformate (MCF) and heptafluoro-1-butanol (HFB) allows separation of 14 enantiomeric pairs, five of which display a resolution (R_s ≥ 1.2) supposed to be sufficient to quantify the enantiomeric excess. Three mixtures of trifluoroacetic (TFAA) and heptafluorobutyric (HFBA) anhydrides were combined with the corresponding perfluorinated alcohols – TFE (2,2,2-trifluoro-1-ethanol) and HFB (2,2,3,3,4,4,4-heptafluoro-1-butanol) – to give three different reagents (TFAA–TFE, TFAA–HFB, HFBA–HFB): the derivatives obtained show separation of the same number of proteinogenic amino acids (14 of 20) at a temperature lower than column bleeding limit (200 °C) and 8 of them give a separation with R_s ≥ 1.2. Linearity study and limit of detection (X_LOD) computation show that both methods are suitable for quantitative determination of several amino acid diastereomers at trace level (X_LOD ≈ 0.5 nmol as derivatized quantity). Both the procedures were coupled with automatic data handling to increase their suitability for space analysis: the simplified data treatment is especially helpful to handle the low quality data recovered from space experiments and labor and time are saved, as imposed by the space experiments requiring a rapid delivery of the results. To achieve this aim, a chemometric approach based on the computation of the Autocovariance Function (ACVF) was applied to extract information on the enantiomeric pairs present in the sample and the enantioseparation achieved on the chiral column.     

Development and validation of a chiral HPLC method for rapid screening of allylic alcohol asymmetric epoxidation processes

A simple and rapid HPLC method has been developed using a polysaccharide chiral stationary phase (Chiralpak AD-H) for the resolution of glycidyl tosylate enantiomers. These compounds were obtained by asymmetric epoxidation of allyl alcohol with chiral titanium-tartrate complexes as catalyst after in situ derivatization of the intermediate glycidols. Separations were achieved using two types of mobile phase: a normal-phase (n-hexane), and a polar-phase (methanol or acetonitrile). The influence of the type and concentration of organic modifier in the mobile phase (ethanol or 2-propanol), the flow rate and the column temperature was investigated. In normal-phase mode, the optimized conditions were: n-hexane/ethanol 70/30 (v/v) at a flow rate of 1.2 mL min⁻¹ and 40 °C. In polar-phase mode, the optimized conditions were: methanol at a flow rate of 0.8 mL min⁻¹ and 20 °C. In both cases, analysis time was ≤11 min and the chiral resolution was ≥2. Nevertheless, due to the better Rs obtained in normal-phase mode, only this method was validated to avoid peaks overlapping in real samples. This method was found to be linear in the 5-300 μg mL⁻¹ range (R² > 0.999) with an LOD of 1.5 μg mL⁻¹ for both glycidyl tosylate enantiomers. Repeatability and intermediate precision at three different concentrations levels were below 0.5 and 7.2% R.S.D. for retention time and area, respectively. This method was applied successfully for the determination of glycidyl tosylate enantiomers after in situ derivatization of glycidols obtained in allylic alcohol asymmetric epoxidation processes with chiral titanium-tartrate complexes as catalysts.     

Precolumn diastereomerization and micellar electrokinetic chromatography on a plastic microchip: rapid chiral analysis of amino acids

Precolumn derivatization and chiral separation of DL-amino acids based on diastereomerization have been performed on an integrated poly(dimethylsiloxane) microchip. Diastereomeric derivatives were formed in a microfabricated precolumn reactor by the reaction of amino acid enantiomers with o-phthaldialdehyde/2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-1-thio-beta-D-glucopyranose (OPA/TATG), and separated by MEKC in an achiral environment without chiral selectors in the running buffer. Optimized precolumn reactions and chiral separations of amino acids were achieved within 2.5 min. Resolutions of diastereomers of OPA/TATG-amino acids were in the range of 2.5-6.1 at optimized separation conditions. Simultaneous separation of a mixture of five chiral amino acids was successfully performed in a single run in less than 100 s.     

Effect of alkylimidazolium substituents on enantioseparation ability of single-isomer alkylimidazolium-beta-cyclodextrin derivatives in capillary electrophoresis

A family of 6-mono(3-alkylimidazolium)-β-cyclodextrins with one primary hydroxyl group replaced by an alkylimidazolium cation has been developed. The effect of alkyl substitutents on the enantioresolution ability of these single-isomer cyclodextrins towards dansyl amino acids has been studied by capillary electrophoresis. Systematical investigations on the effect of buffer pH and selector concentration on the enatioseparation show that chiral selectors with a shorter alkyl chain (R = C_nH_2n+1, n ≤ 4) presented more powerful chiral recognition ability. These newly introduced single-isomer β-cyclodextrin derivatives proved to be effective chiral selectors for most selected dansyl amino acids at low buffer pH (e.g. pH 5.0) with selector concentration no less than 3 mM. The apparent complex stability constants between alkylimidazolium β-CDs and dansyl amino acids were also theoretically determined by using the mobility difference model proposed by Wren and Rowe. The side alkyl chains from both dansyl amino acids and alkylimidazolium β-CDs displayed significant effect on the apparent complex stability constants. Both the optimum selector concentrations calculated according to the model, however, were much lower than the experimental values giving the maximum chiral resolution of enantiomers.     

Synthesis and evaluation of new fluorescent derivatization reagents for resolution of chiral amines by RP-HPLC

New fluorescent chiral derivatization reagents (i.e., DBD-trans-4-hydroxy-l-proline, DBD-cis-4-hydroxy-l-proline, DBD-cis-4-hydroxy-d-proline, and DBD-trans-3-hydroxy-l-proline) were synthesized from the reaction of 4-(N,N-dimethylaminosulfonyl)-7-fluoro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole with corresponding hydroxy-prolines. These reagents reacted with chiral amine to produce a couple of diastereomers. The labeling efficiently proceeded in the presence of 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide and pyridine as the activation reagents. The reaction conditions are mild and no racemization occurred during both the reagent synthesis and the diastereomer formation (<0.4%). The resulting diastereomers fluoresce at around 560 nm (excitation at around 450 nm). Good linearity of the calibration curves was obtained in the range of 1-75 pmol and the detection limits on chromatogram were less than 1 pmol. The separability of the diastereomers was evaluated in terms of separation factor (α) and resolution value (Rs). DBD-trans-4-hydroxy-l-proline was efficient for the resolution of dl-phenylalanine methylester; while DBD-cis-4-hydroxy-d(or l)-proline was excellent for the separation of 1-(1-naphtyl)ethylamines, as comparing with trans-4-hydroxy isomer. The reagents of cis-isomer seemed to be predominant for the resolution of hydrophobic enantiomers. On the other hand, trans-isomers were suitable for the separation of the racemic amines containing ester in the structure. With respect to the position of OH group, the effect seems to be less, judging from the results of DBD-trans-4-hydroxy-l-proline and DBD-trans-3-hydroxy-l-proline toward phenylalanine methylester. The results suggest that the separation is dependent upon both structures of the amines and the reagent used. Thus, the stereostructure, hydrophobicity and hydrogen bonding of the diastereomer, etc. seem to be affecting the separation.     

Fast enantiomeric separation of propranolol by affinity capillary electrophoresis using human serum albumin as chiral selector: application to quality control of pharmaceuticals

In the last years, capillary electrophoresis (CE) has gained considerable interest in pharmaceutical laboratories for controlling the chiral purity of drugs. This paper describes a simple and fast method for resolution of propranolol enantiomers by affinity capillary electrophoresis (ACE) using human serum albumin (HSA) as chiral selector. The effect of several experimental variables such as HSA concentration, temperature, chiral selector plug length and addition of organic modifiers, on the separation is evaluated. Complete enantioresolution of R- and S-propranolol was achieved in less than 5 min when the capillary was completely filled with 100 μM HSA solution and the electrophoresis was carried out with 67 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) at 20 kV and 35 °C. Peaks were assigned to each propranolol enantiomer according to their relative affinities to HSA. The proposed method was applied to the analysis of pharmaceutical preparations containing propranolol. Resolution, accuracy, reproducibility, cost and sample throughput of the proposed method make it suitable for quality control of the enantiomeric composition of propranolol in pharmaceuticals.     

Elucidation of chiral recognition processes of macrocyclic antibiotic vancomycin

A theoretical investigation was carried out on the retention and separation of enantiomeric molecules including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, anti-neoplastic compounds and N-derivatized amino acids by capillary electrophoresis using macrocyclic antibiotics, a new class of chiral selectors, as stationary phase. Firstly docking methods were used to study the enantiorecognition in chiral electrophoresis. The molecular dynamics simulations of the two diastereoisomer complexes were then performed in order to understand how these antibiotics recognize the enantiomers. Another approach was applied in this study to establish a quantitative structure-enantioselectivity relationship (QSER) model, able to describe the resolution of a series of chiral compounds in capillary electrophoresis using vancomycin as the resolving agent.     

Isotopic variants of light and heavy l-pyroglutamic acid succinimidyl esters as the derivatization reagents for dl-amino acid chiral metabolomics identification by liquid chromatography and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

l-Pyroglutamic acid succinimidyl ester (l-PGA-OSu) and its isotopic variant (l-PGA[d₅]-OSu) were newly synthesized and evaluated as the chiral labeling reagents for the enantioseparation of amino acids, in terms of separation efficiency by reversed-phase chromatography and detection sensitivity by ESI-MS/MS. The enantiomers of amino acids were easily labeled with the reagents at 60 °C within 10 min in an alkaline medium containing triethylamine. Although all the diastereomers derived from 18 proteolytic amino acids could not be satisfactorily separated, the pairs of 9 amino acids were completely separated by reversed-phase chromatography using the small particle (1.7 μm) ODS column (Rs = 1.95–8.05). The characteristic daughter ions, i.e., m/z 84.04 and m/z 89.04, were detected from all the derivatives by the collision induced dissociation of the protonated molecular ions. A highly sensitive detection at a low-fmol level (0.5–3.2 fmol) was also obtained from the selected reaction monitoring (SRM) chromatograms. An isotope labeling strategy using light and heavy l-PGA-OSu for the differential analysis of the dl-amino acids in different sample groups is also presented in this paper. The differential analysis of biological sample (i.e., human serum) and food product (i.e., yogurt) were tried to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method. The ratios of the dl-amino acids in human serum samples, spiked with the different concentrations of d-amino acids, were determined by the procedures using l-PGA-OSu and l-PGA[d₅]-OSu. The d/l ratios in the two sample groups at different concentrations of amino acids were similar to the theoretical values. Furthermore, the ratios of d/l-alanine values in different yogurt products were comparable to the ratios obtained from the d/l values using only light reagent (i.e., l-PGA-OSu). Consequently, the proposed strategy is useful for the differential analysis not only in biological samples but also in food products.