Theoretical Investigation on the Second-order Nonlinear Optical Properties of Chiral Amino Acid Zinc(Ⅱ) Porphyrins

Static second-order nonlinear optical effects of amino acid zinc(II) porphyrins 1, 2, 3 and 4 were calculated by the TDHF/PM3 method based on the molecular structures optimized at the semiempirical PM3 quantum chemistry level, showing due to the cancellation of symmetric center, these amino acid zinc(II) porphyrins exhibit second order nonlinear optical response. The analysis of β components indicated that these amino acid zinc(II) porphyrins are of multipolarizabilities, and they may be ascribed as the "mixture" of octupolar and dipoar molecules with ||βJ=3||/||βJ=1|| ≈ 5. It is found that there are no significant differences between the static β values of non-chiral and chiral amino acid zinc(II) porphyrins. However, the βxyz component, which is quite important to quadratic macroscopic х (2) susceptibility of chiral material, is increased significantly with the increase of side chain group of amino acids.     

Silicate Xerogels with Dopant-Induced Chirality

A series of silicate xerogels with entrapped chiral amino acids have been obtained via sol-gel technology. The transparent, glassy samples obtained exhibit chirality in the bulk due to the presence of the entrapped asymmetric molecules. Measurements of the optical activity of the doped xerogel samples revealed that the entrapment did not significantly influence the optical activity observed for liquid solutions of the amino acids. Thus, the sol-gel method enables the preparation of amorphous optical materials exhibiting properties of strictly spatially defined molecular systems. Apart from the obvious optical applications, such porous materials with asymmetric centers might find interesting applications in chiral chemical syntheses and separations.     

Structural scaffold of 18-crown-6 tetracarboxylic acid for optical resolution of chiral amino acid: X-ray crystal analyses and energy calculations of complexes of D- and L-isomers of tyrosine, isoleucine, methionine and phenylglycine

To clarify the structural scaffold of (+)-18-crown-6 tetracarboxylic acid ((+)-18C6H4) for the optical resolution of a chiral amino acid, the crystal structures of its equimolar complexes with L- and D-isomers of tyrosine (Tyr), isoleucine (Ile), methionine (Met) and phenylglycine (PheG) were analysed by X-ray diffraction methods. (+)-18C6H4 took very similar conformations for all complexes. Although the chemical structure of (+)-18C6H4 is C2-symmetric, it took a similar asymmetric ring conformation of radius ca. 6.0 A. In all complexes, the amino group of chiral amino acids was located near the center of the ring and formed three hydrogen bonds and five electrostatic interactions with eight oxygen atoms of the ether ring and carboxyl groups. Also, the Calpha atom of chiral amino acids participated in Calpha-H...O interaction with the oxygen atom of (+)-18C6H4. In contrast, the carboxyl group of chiral amino acids did not directly interact with (+)-18C6H4. These results indicate that the structural scaffold of (+)-18C6H4 for the optical resolution of chiral amino acids is mainly based on the mode of interaction of (+)-18C6H4 with the amino and Calpha-H groups of chiral amino acids. The differences in interaction pattern and binding energy between the L- and D-isomers of each amino acid are discussed in relation to the chiral recognition of (+)-18C6H4.     

Ligand exchange chromatography for analysis and preparative separation of tritium-labelled amino acids

Racemic tritium-labelled amino acids were separated into optical isomers by chromatography on a chiral polyacrylamide sorbent filled with copper ions. The polyacrylamide sorbent is synthesized by Mannich's reaction through the action of formaldehyde and L-phenylalanine upon polyacrylamide Biogel P-4 in an alkali phosphate buffer. Tritiumlabelled amino acids are eluted by a weak alkali solution of ammonium carbonate. Data are presented on the ligand exchange chromatography of amino acids depending on the degree to which the sorbent is filled with copper ions and on the eluent concentration. Conditions are suggested for the quantitative separation of amino acid racemates. Amino acids are isolated from the eluent on short columns filled with sulfonated cation exchanger in the H⁺ form. HPLC on modified silica gel sorbents is also used for the analysis of tritium-labelled optically active amino acids. Amino acids are eluted by a weakly acidic water-methanol solution containing ammonium acetate. UV and scintillation flow type detectors are used.     

Chiral discrimination of alpha-amino acids by the DNA triplet GCA using amino acids as a co-selector

The DNA triplet GCA is successfully used as a chiral selector for the chiral discrimination of amino acids using amino acids themselves as a co-selector. Chiral discrimination was achieved by investigating the collision-induced dissociation spectra of the [X(A) + X(R) + 2Y - 2H](2-) ion generated by electrospraying a mixture of analyte amino acid (X(A)), reference amino acid (X(R)) and GCA (Y). The relative abundances of fragment ions resulting from the competitive loss of reference and X(A)'s are considered for measuring the degree of chiral discrimination. GCA successfully shows D-selectivity for all the amino acids, except Tyr and Lys. The success of the method lies in the selection of a suitable 10(R) that has closer GCA binding affinity to that of analyte. The degree of discrimination by GCA is improved in the presence of the reference, and the chirality of the reference does not change the selectivity of GCA. The suitability of the method for the measurement of optical purity is also demonstrated.     

Photoinduced diastereoselective addition of perfluoroalkyl iodides to acrylic acid derivatives for the synthesis of fluorinated amino acids

Photoinduced diastereoselective addition of perfluoroalkyl iodides in the presence of an aqueous solution of Na2S2O3 was an excellent method for iodoperfluoroalkylation of acrylic acid derivatives bearing a chiral auxiliary, with moderate to good stereoselectivities and with no detectable side products. The iodoperfluoroalkylation of N-acyloylcamphorsultam provided a convenient route for preparing chiral fluorine-containing amino acids.     

Chiral symmetry breaking via crystallization of the glycine and α-amino acid system: a mathematical model

We introduce and numerically solve a mathematical model of the experimentally established mechanisms responsible for the symmetry breaking transition observed in the chiral crystallization experiments reported by I. Weissbuch, L. Addadi, L. Leiserowitz and M. Lahav, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1988, 110, 561-567. The mathematical model is based on five basic processes: (1) the formation of achiral glycine clusters in solution, (2) the nucleation of oriented glycine crystals at the air/water interface in the presence of hydrophobic amino acids, (3) a kinetic orienting effect which inhibits crystal growth, (4) the enantioselective occlusion of the amino acids from solution, and (5) the growth of oriented host glycine crystals at the interface. We translate these processes into differential rate equations. We first study the model with the orienting process (2) without (3) and then combine both allowing us to make detailed comparisons of both orienting effects which actually act in unison in the experiment. Numerical results indicate that the model can yield a high percentage orientation of the mixed crystals at the interface and the consequent resolution of the initially racemic mixture of amino acids in solution. The model thus leads to separation of enantiomeric territories, the generation and amplification of optical activity by enantioselective occlusion of chiral additives through chiral surfaces of glycine crystals.     

Capillary electrophoresis and column chromatography in biomedical chiral amino acid analysis

Free amino acids are typically quantified as the sum of their enantiomers, because in terrestrial organisms they mainly exist in the left-handed form. However, with increasing understanding of the biological significance of right-handed amino acids interest in enantioselective quantification of amino acids has steadily increased. Initially, electrophoretic and chromatographic methods using chiral (pseudo)-stationary phases or chiral eluents were applied to the separation of amino acid enantiomers. Later, derivatization of amino acids prior to chromatography with chiral reagents gained in popularity, because the diastereomers formed can be resolved on conventional reversed-phase columns. Novel multi-interaction chiral columns turned attention back to direct chiral chromatographic methods. Hyphenation to mass spectrometry has increasingly replaced optical detection because of superior selectivity, although this has not obviated the need for baseline resolution of amino acid enantiomers. Despite the progress made, enantioselective separation and quantification of amino acids remains an analytical challenge owing to frequently incomplete resolution of all naturally occurring enantiomers and insufficient sensitivity for the determination of the trace amounts of d-amino acids typically found in biological fluids and tissues. Chiral GC-MS analysis of heptafluorobutanol/pentafluoropropionanhydride amino acid derivatives on an Rt-gDEXsa column     

Four-Component Ugi Reaction for Optical Chirality Sensing and Surface Nanoengineering of Chiral Self-Assemblies

Using green chemistry to control chirality at hierarchical levels as well as chiroptical activities endows with new opportunities to the development of multiple functions. Here, the four-component Ugi reaction is introduced for the general and precise optical chirality sensing of amines as well as the surface nanoengineering of chiral soft self-assemblies. To overcome the relatively weak Cotton effects, direct synthesis of a folded peptide structure on a rotatable ferrocene core with axial chirality was accomplished from chiral amine, 1,1’-ferrocenyl dicarboxylic acid, formaldehyde and isocyanide. Enhanced Cotton effects benefiting from the folded structure allow for the precise and quantitative sensing of natural and synthetic chiral amines covering alkyl, aromatic amines and amino acid derivatives. In addition, aqueous reaction enables the modification of amine-bearing dye to microfibers self-assembled from π-conjugated amino acids. Surface dye-modification via Ugi reaction barely changes the pristine morphology, showing non-invasive properties in contrast to dye staining, which is applicable in soft nano/microarchitectures from self-assembly. This work which combines the four-component Ugi reaction to enable precise ee% detection and surface nanoengineering of soft chiral assemblies sheds light on the advanced application of green chemistry to chirality science.     

Mass spectroscopic approach to amino acids formation processes by UV irradiation to simple organic molecules in aqueous solution.

We have studied amino acid formation by UV (193 nm) irradiation to organic molecules (amines, alcohols and amides) in aqueous solution. Among several types of detected amino acids, small aliphatic amino acids (Gly and alpha-, beta-Ala and alpha-, beta-, gamma-ABA) were quantitatively identified. Among these small aliphatic amino acids, certain amino acids were formed in its free form, even before hydrolysis, contrary to the results of UV irradiation to a gas mixture of CO, NH3, and H2O, where amino acids were hardly detected before hydrolysis. The species distribution of identified amino acids showed a dependence on the starting organic molecules, and also on the presence of ammonia. The formation processes of the identified small aliphatic amino acids were investigated with the aid of electrospray ionization (ESI) MS and MS/MS measurements of photoproducts. Possible formation processes of these amino acid precursors from each starting molecules are proposed. By identifying the amino acid precursor, which has a chiral carbon atom, a new possibility is suggested for asymmetric photosynthesis of amino acid from achiral organic molecules.     

Hexabenzocoronene Graphitic Nanocoils Appended with Crown Ethers: Supramolecular Chirality Induced by Host–Guest Interaction

We have designed and synthesized two new achiral hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene (HBC) derivatives, HBC^CE and HBC^TEG-CE , which bear the crown ether as the pendant for the amino acid binding site. The HBC^CE self-assembled into a racemic mixture of P- and M-handed helical nanocoils, however, in the presence of chiral amino acid guests, it formed helical nanocoils with one-handed screw sense. The effects of the concentration, type and configuration of the guests on the induced circular dichroism (ICD) during the co-assembly of HBC^CE with chiral amino acids were also investigated. Additionally, after complete removal of the chiral guests, the optically active nanocoils did not racemize, even in the presence of excess amino acids with the opposite configuration. In contrast, HBC^TEG-CE with a long triethylene glycol (TEG) chain between the crown ether group and the HBC unit did not exhibit ICD during the co-assembly with chiral amino acids.     

Chiral recognition of amines and amino acid derivatives by optically active ruthenium Halterman porphyrins in organic solvents and water

The complexation of optically active or racemic amines, amino esters and amino acids with chiral ruthenium Halterman porphyrins is described. For various amino esters, chiral recognition was observed for the complexation of the ligand with up to 60% enantiomeric excess for 1-(1-naphthyl) ethylamine. A water-soluble ruthenium Halterman porphyrin, due to the presence of four sulfonate groups at the para-positions, was also prepared and used for the chiral recognition of amino acids in water.     

Design and synthesis of chiral alpha,alpha-disubstituted amino acids and conformational study of their oligopeptides

alpha,alpha-Disubstituted amino acids are alpha-amino acids in which the hydrogen atom at the alpha-position of the L-alpha-amino acid is replaced with an alkyl substituent. The introduction of an alpha-alkyl substituent changes the properties of amino acids, with the conformational freedom of the side chain in the amino acids and the secondary structure of their peptides being especially restricted. The author developed a synthetic route of optically active alpha-ethylated alpha,alpha-disubstituted amino acids using chiral cyclic 1,2-diol as a chiral auxiliary. It was found that the preferred secondary structure of peptides composed of chiral alpha-ethylated alpha,alpha-disubstituted amino acids is a fully extended C5-conformation, whereas that of peptides composed of chiral alpha-methylated alpha,alpha-disubstituted amino acids is a 3(10)-helical structure. Also, a new chiral cyclic amino acid; (3S,4S)-1-amino-3,4-di(methoxy)cyclopentanecarboxylic acid {(S,S)-Ac5c(dOM)}, and a bicyclic amino acid; (1R,6R)-8-aminobicyclo[4.3.0]non-3-ene-8-carboxylic acid {(R,R)-Ab5,6= c}, in which the alpha-carbon atom is not the chiral center but chiral centers exist at the side-chain cycloalkane skeleton, were designed and synthesized. The (S,S)-Ac5c(dOM) hexa- and octapeptides preferentially formed left-handed (M) helices, in which the helical-screw direction is exclusively controlled by the side-chain chiral centers. Contrary to the left-handed helices of (S,S)-Ac(5)c(dOM) peptides, the (R,R)-Ab5,6= c hexapeptide formed both diastereomeric right-handed (P) and left-handed (M) helices, and the twelve chiral centers at the side chain showed no preference for helical-screw direction. Thus, the chiral environment at the side chain is important for the control of helical-screw direction. Furthermore, the author designed a new class of chiral cyclic alpha,alpha-disubstituted amino acids that have pendant chiral centers at the substituent of the delta-nitrogen atom. The synthetic route would provide various optically-active cyclic alpha,alpha-disubstituted amino acids bearing a pendant chiral moiety.     

Symmetry Breaking in Chiral Ionic Liquids Evidenced by Vibrational Optical Activity

Ionic liquids (ILs) are receiving increasing interest for their use in synthetic laboratories and industry. Being composed of charged entities, they show a complex and widely unexplored dynamic behavior. Chiral ionic liquids (CILs) have a high potential as solvents for use in asymmetric synthesis. Chiroptical methods, owing to their sensitivity towards molecular conformation, offer unique possibilities to study the structure of these chiral ionic liquids. Raman optical activity proved particularly useful to study ionic liquids composed of amino acids and the achiral 1‐ethyl‐3‐methylimidazolium counterion. We could substantiate, supported by selected theoretical methods, that the achiral counterion adopts an overall chiral conformation in the presence of chiral amino acid ions. These findings suggest that in the design of chiral ionic liquids for asymmetric synthesis, the structure of the achiral counter ion also has to be carefully considered.     

Chiral and electrokinetic separation of amino acids using polypyrrole-coated adsorbents

An optically active and electroconductive polymeric adsorbent has been developed for the use in chromatographic resolution of nonderivatized amino acids. The chiral selectivity of the adsorbent is based upon ligand exchange of coordinated copper(II) complexes of D or L-amino acids and a molecular imprinting technique by modifying the resin surface with polypyrrole coating. Applying a potential difference of +/-1.5 V to the chiral and conductive column, racemic amino acids are separated according to their charge characteristics, and simultaneously resolved with respect to their optical isomerisms. A pH-controlled mixture of D,L-lysine and D,L-aspartic acid is resolved displaying enantioselectivity values of 1.19 and 2.08, respectively, and a baseline separation of the two amino acids is accomplished by alternating the polarity of the electric field. The synthesized adsorbent also exhibits size exclusion factor discriminating amino acids with larger side chains.     

Kinetic method for the simultaneous chiral analysis of different amino acids in mixtures

The kinetic method has been extended to enantiomeric excess (ee) determinations on amino acids present in mixtures. Singly charged trimeric clusters [Cu(II)(ref*)(2)(A(m)) - H](+) are readily generated by electrospraying solutions containing Cu(II), a chiral reference ligand (ref*), and the amino acids (analytes A(m), m = 1-3). A trimeric cluster ion for each amino acid is individually mass-selected and then collisionally activated to cause dissociation by competitive loss of either the reference ligand or the analyte. For each analyte in the mixture, as shown from separate experiments, the logarithm of the ratio of the fragment abundances for the complex containing one enantiomer of this analyte expressed relative to that for the fragments of the corresponding complex containing the other enantiomer is linearly related to the enantiomeric composition of the amino acid. Formation and dissociation of each trimeric complex ion are shown to occur independently of the presence of other analytes. Chiral selectivity appears to be an intrinsic property and the chiral selectivity R(chiral(m)) measured from the mixture of analytes is equal to R(chiral) measured for the pure analyte. The sensitive nature of the methodology and the linear relationship between the logarithm of the fragment ion abundance ratio and the optical purity, characteristic of the kinetic method, allow the determination of chiral impurities of less than 2% ee in individual compounds present in mixtures by simply recording the ratios of fragment ion abundances in a tandem mass spectrum.     

Stereoselective analysis of D and L dansyl amino acids as the mixed chelate copper(II) complexes by HPLC

This paper reviews the mixed chelation approach to resolution of the optical isomers of D and L dansyl amino acids by high performance liquid chromatography. The use of eluants containing Cu(II) complexes of L-proline, L-arginine, L-histidine, and L-histidine methyl ester effected the separation of many D and L amino acids, including those with aliphatic, polar, and aromatic substituents. The mechanism of separation, which is based on the preferential ternary complex formation of the analyte amino acid and the chiral chelate with Cu(II) in the mobile phase, is discussed. The stereoselectivity depends mainly on the different steric interactions between the alkyl side chains of the amino acid analytes and the chiral ligands coordinating around Cu(II), although such parameters as pH, temperature, organic modifier, and concentration of the chiral additive also affect the chromatographic separation. Among the chiral ligands studied, L-histidine methyl ester is unique in that it possesses both achiral selectivity for the dansyl amino acids and chiral selectivity for the respective D and L enantiomers. With a mobile phase gradient of acetonitrile in a buffer containing Cu(II) L-histidine methyl ester complex, a stereoselective procedure was devised for the analysis of D and L amino acid enantiomers, achieving the separation that the current amino acid analyzer could not perform. Finally, the use of the mixed chelation approach in two biomedical studies is described. In the first application, the histidine methyl ester gradient was adapted for analyzing amino acids in cerebrospinal fluid; in the second, an L-aspartame Cu(II) complex eluant was developed for measuring the urine concentration of D and L pipecolic acid (piperidine-2-carboxylic acid), a metabolite of lysine.     

Do homochiral aggregates have an entropic advantage?

The present work seeks to illuminate the underlying principles which control the aggregation of chiral building blocks into larger aggregates by examining the role that entropy plays in this process. Entropic effects are first examined within the confines of a simple model system, and the results are then compared to experimental data on clusters of amino acids. The model system predicts that the formation of a specific structure is more likely to occur from an enantiopure solution because forming a particular structure from a racemic solution is hindered by significant entropic barriers. These predictions are in good agreement with the experimental results. In our examination of clusters of all of the amino acids, clusters which are unusually abundant are found only when enantiopure solutions are sampled. Furthermore, the majority of all clusters exhibit no preference for chiral composition, suggesting that entropic effects negate any changes in enthalpy. Although the experimental data are not comprehensive, our results strongly suggest that specificity in homochiral clusters is entropically advantageous compared to specificity in racemic clusters.     

Supramolecular assembly facilitating adsorbate-induced chiral electronic states in a metal surface

Through the application of optically active second-harmonic generation measurements (OA-SHG) we have demonstrated that the adsorption of amino acids cysteine (HSCH(2)CHNH(2)COOH) and penicillamine (HSC(CH3)(2)CHNH(2)COOH) from solution can induce chiral electronic states in an initially achiral polycrystalline Au film. The chiral induction is strongly dependent upon the pH of the deposition solution; adsorption of penicillamine and cysteine under acidic conditions (pH = 3) induces the same level of optical activity, whereas at pH = 11, the optical activity induced by cysteine is reduced by ca. 50% and penicillamine does not induce optical activity at all. The pH dependence indicates that the presence of interadsorbate hydrogen bonds, and consequently the supramolecular assembly of the adsorbates, facilitates the induction of chiral electronic states in the Au surface. This observation demonstrates that the symmetry properties of the extended structure of the self-assembled layer, and not the local adsorption geometry of the isolated adsorbed moiety, play the lead role in the induction of chiral metallic electronic states. The dependence of the chiral induction on COOH groups is identical to that observed in studies of optical activity in chiral thiol-protected nanoparticles, suggesting a common mechanism for the chiral perturbation in extended films and nanoparticles.     

Functionalization of cellulose dialysis membranes for chiral separation using beta-cyclodextrin immobilization

A membrane-based chiral separation system for the separation of racemic tryptophan solutions is developed by the covalently binding beta-cyclodextrin onto the surface of commercial cellulose membranes. The immobilization process is monitored by XPS. AFM demonstrates the evolutionary transition of membrane surface morphology before and after the CD immobilization. Due to their different complexation with immobilized CD, dialysis transport experiments show d-tryptophan preferential permeability through the immobilized CD membranes, and the enantioselectivity is 1.10. A model based on the existence of a thin chiral solution layer of amino acid at the interface between the feed solution and the membrane has been proposed. This chiral separation model has been verified using the chiral separation results of racemic amino acids and binding constants of amino acids with CD. The effect of membrane's pore size on enantioselectivity has also been investigated. The immobilized CD membrane, having MWCO 1000, exhibits the highest enantioselectivity to the racemic tryptophan solution.