Self-recovery of chiral microphase separation in an achiral diblock copolymer system

Macroscopic regulation of chiral supramolecular nanostructures in liquid-crystalline block copolymers is of great significance in photonics and nanotechnology. Although fabricating helical phase structures via chiral doping and microphase separation has been widely reported, the chiral memory and self-recovery capacity of asymmetric phase structures are the major challenge and still deeply rely on the presence of chiral additives. Herein, we demonstrate the first controllable chiral microphase separation in an achiral amphiphilic block copolymer consisting of poly(ethylene oxide) and azobenzene (Azo) groups. Chirality can be transferred to the fabricated helical nanostructures by doping with chiral additives (tartaric acid, TA). After the removal of the chiral additives and then performing cross-linking, the formed helical nanostructures will completely dispense with the chiral source. The supramolecular chirality and the micron-scale phase structure can be maintained under UV irradiation and heating-cooling treatment, enabling a reversible “on–off” chiroptical switch feature. This work is expected to avoid the tedious synthesis and expensive raw materials and shows a great application prospect in chiral separation and so on.

A chirality-storing copolymer MPS structure will overcome the external chiral source dependence and avoid tedious synthesis and expensive raw materials.     

Direct separation of the enantiomers of cetirizine and related compounds by reversed-phase chiral HPLC

Summary Direct separations of the enantiomers of cetirizine and related compounds have been achieved by reversed-phase HPLC on the Chiralcel OD-R, a polysaccharide-derived chiral stationary phase; the mobile phase was usually perchlorate solution supplemented with acetonitrile. Resolution of the enantiomers of cetirizine and related compounds was good. The effect of the acetonitrile content of the mobile phase was investigated, and the effect of the structure of the chiral compounds on their behavior on the Chiralcel OD-R column is discussed.     

Common methods for the chiral determination of amphetamine and related compounds I. Gas, liquid and thin-layer chromatography

This article reviews the most common, useful methods for the chiral determination of amphetamine (AM) and AM-derived designer drugs in different of matrix, including blood, hair, urine, medicaments or standard solutions, taking into consideration articles published in the past 15 years. We consider chromatographic methods (e.g., gas, liquid, high-performance liquid, and thin layer). We describe several types of chiral derivatization reagent, mobile-phase additive and chiral stationary phase commonly used in the chromatographic methods. Tables summarize basic information about conditions (e.g., type of column and mobile phase), detection mode and reference data for each procedure.     

Enantiospecific desorption of chiral compounds from chiral Cu(643) and achiral Cu(111) surfaces

Temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) experiments have been conducted to investigate enantiospecific desorption from chiral single-crystal surfaces. The (643) and (six four three) planes of face-centered cubic metals such as Cu have kinked and stepped structures which are nonsuperimposable mirror images of one another and therefore are chiral. These chiral surfaces are denoted Cu(643)(R) and Cu(643)(S). We have observed that the desorption energies of (R)-3-methylcyclohexanone and (R)- and (S)-propylene oxides from the Cu(643)(R) and Cu(643)(S) surfaces depend on the relative handedness of the adsorbate/substrate combination. Since the (643) surface is comprised of terraces with local (111) orientation which are separated by kinked monatomic steps, it is instructive to perform TPD experiments with these chiral compounds on the achiral Cu(111) surface. These experiments have given some insight into the adsorption sites for the chiral molecules on the Cu(643) surfaces. There are several high-temperature features in the TPD spectra of the chiral compounds that only appear in the spectra from the (643) surfaces and thus are attributed to molecules adsorbed at or near the kinked steps. In addition there are lower temperature desorption features observed on the Cu(643) surfaces which occur in the same temperature range as desorption features observed on the Cu(111) surface. These features observed on the (643) surfaces are attributed to desorption from the flat (111) terraces.     

Micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatographic separation and fluorescent detection of amino acids derivatized with 4-fluoro-7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole

Another method has been developed for the separation of amino acids (1 min derivatization plus 22 min separation) by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MECC) with laser-induced fluorescence detection. Interestingly enough, such work has never been performed on essential amino acids derivatized by 4-fluoro-7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (NBD-F). Fifteen L-amino acid standards were labelled with NBD-F at 60 degrees C for 1 min, and separated in a buffer system containing 20 mM borate, 25 mM sodium cholate, 10 mM Brij 35 and 2.5% methanol. Methanol was employed to expand the MECC migration time window; whereas Brij 35 was used to improve the fluorescence intensity of amino acid derivatives. This method also indicates that bile salt is effective for MECC separation of ionic analytes. Surprising though, improvements in resolution, sensitivity and speed for amino acids analysis are obtained in this work, which are not initially apparent in just employing another derivatizing reagent. Under optimal conditions, 15 amino acids were separated in a short 22 min analysis time, the shortest ever reported, and detection limits of nanomolar concentration and attomole mass were obtained. Furthermore, RSDs of migration time and peak height are better than 1% and 1.8%, respectively, again the smallest ever reported in the literature.     

Cyclodextrin‐modified capillary electrophoresis for achiral and chiral separation of ergostane and lanostane compounds extracted from the fruiting body of Antrodia camphorata

A CD‐modified capillary electrophoretic method has been developed for achiral and chiral analysis of seven bioactive compounds isolated from the fruiting body of Antrodia camphorata. Such important target analytes exhibit similar chemical structures and are known for their diverse properties including antioxidant and anticancer effects. The analytes were separated in 25 min using a pH 9.3, 20 mM sodium borate buffer containing 20 mM methyl‐β‐CD and 30 mM sulfobutylether‐β‐CD. With the exception of the optical isomer pairs (antcin B or zhankuic acid A, zhankuic acid C, and antcin A), the remaining bioactive compounds including the chiral pair antcin C were baseline‐separated. Analysis time was noticeably longer to baseline separate all of the above chiral pairs (～38 min) by adding 5% DMF to the running buffer. The migration order was reversed compared with the HPLC elution. More hydrophobic compounds complexed favorably with methyl‐β‐CD and emerged earlier in the electropherogram than their more hydrophilic counterparts which were strongly associated with sulfobutylether‐β‐CD. The simple capillary electrophoretic method developed was applicable for rapid separation and characterization of several important bioactive compounds isolated from the fruiting body of A. camphorata.     

Enantiomeric separation of amino acids derivatized with 7-fluoro-4-nitrobenzoxadiazole by capillary liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

Pre-column derivatization allowed stacking amino acid enantiomers on C18 reversed-phase micro extraction columns, thus facilitating sample loading in capillary HPLC/tandem mass spectrometry. Two tagging reagents, i.e. 7-fluoro-4-nitrobenzoxadiazole (NBD-F) and 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (DNB-F) were evaluated. Both of them reacted readily with amino acids at an elevated temperature, resulting in derivatives that were effectively stacked and suitable for a sensitive MS/MS detection as well. Separation of the tagged enantiomers on a teicoplanin chiral stationary phase (CSP) with mobile phases compatible with MS detection was investigated. NBD-amino acid enantiomers (12 pairs) tested were all base-line resolved. However, the efforts to separate DNB-F tagged amino acid enantiomers on this CSP were not successful. Separation conditions including pH, organic modifiers, and column dimension were studied. All the NBD-amino acids studied could be sensitively detected by MS/MS detection set in the negative ion mode, but only a few including NBD-Asp, BND-Glu, NBD-Ser, and NBD-Thr were detected in the positive ion mode. Thus, the selectivity for enantiomeric determination of excitatory amino acids (e.g. Asp and Glu) was further improved by choosing MS/MS detection in the positive ion mode.     

Asymmetric induction during photocyclization of chiral and achiral alpha-oxoamides within achiral zeolites

The photochemistry of 31 alpha-oxoamides capable of undergoing gamma-hydrogen transfer has been examined within zeolites. These molecules, upon excitation, yield two products--a beta-lactam and oxazolidinone--in solution, both resulting from gamma-hydrogen transfer. While in benzene the major product is oxazolidinone, within an MY zeolite, the main product is a beta-lactam. In this investigation, we have focused our attention on asymmetric induction in the formation of the beta-lactam product. Two approaches--using a chiral inductor and chiral auxiliary--have been employed. While in solution, in the presence of chiral inductors, achiral alpha-oxoamides yield beta-lactams with zero enantioselectivity; within zeolites, an ee of up to 44% has been achieved. Alpha-oxoamides appended with a chiral auxiliary gave beta-lactams with less than 5% diastereoselectivity in solution while within zeolites, the same alpha-oxoamides gave the products with de's of up to 83%. Such a remarkable influence of zeolites is attributed to an alkali ion interaction with the reactant alpha-oxoamides and to the confined environment of the zeolite interior. At this stage, we have not been able to provide a model with predictive power and further work is needed to understand this valuable asymmetric induction strategy.     

Chiral separation of homocysteine by derivatization with 4-aminosulfonyl-7-fluoro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole followed by capillary electrophoresis using gamma-cyclodextrin

Homocysteine was derivatized with 4-aminosulfonyl-7-fluoro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (ABD-F) to form an inclusion complex with cyclodextrin and to facilitate UV detection. ABD-homocysteine showed interaction with beta- and gamma-cyclodextrin in capillary electrophoresis at pH 2.25 as indicated by the decreased migration time. However, chiral separation of D,L-ABD-homocysteine was observed using gamma-CD only. Optimal separation was obtained at pH 2.25, 50 mM gamma-CD concentration, and 20 kV applied voltage. L-ABD-Homocysteine migrated faster than the D-isomer as demonstrated by a spiking experiment using dithiothreitol-reduced L-homocystine.     

High performance liquid chromatography with chemiluminescence detection of methamphetamine and its related compounds using 4-(N,N-dimethylaminosulphonyl)-7-fluoro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole.

A high performance liquid chromatographic assay of methamphetamine (MP) and its related compounds, i.e. ephedrine (EP), norephedrine (NE), p-hydroxymethamphetamine (p-HMP), p-hydroxyamphetamine (p-HAP) and amphetamine (AP), with peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence detection has been developed. 4-(N,N-Dimethylaminosulphonyl)-7-fluoro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (DBD-F) was used as a fluorescent labeling reagent. A mixture of hydrogen peroxide and bis[4-nitro-2-(3,6,9-trioxadecyloxycarbonyl)phenyl] oxalate in acetonitrile was used as a postcolumn chemiluminogenic reagent. DBD derivatives of MP and its related compounds were separated by a gradient elution with acetonitrile and 0.01 M imidazole buffer (pH 7.0) within 65 min. The detection limits (S/N = 3) for the proposed method for MP, AP, EP, NE, p-HMP and p-HAP were 27, 100, 40, 133, 25 and 133 fmol on column, respectively. The recoveries of these compounds with normal urine samples were 87.4-106.4%. The method was successfully applied to the assay of MP and its metabolites in urine samples from MP addicts. A good linear correlation for the resulted amounts of MP or AP between the proposed method and gas chromatography was obtained (r = 0.993 for MP or 0.991 for AP).     

Determination of the chiral and achiral related substances of methotrexate by cyclodextrin-modified micellar electrokinetic chromatography

A cyclodextrin-modified micellar electrokinetic chromatographic (CD-MEKC) method for the determination of the most important potential impurities of methotrexate (MTX): 2,4-diamino-6-(hydroxymethyl)pteridine, aminopterine hydrate, 4-[N-(2-amino-4-hydroxy-6-pteridinylmethyl)-N-methylamino] benzoic acid, 4-[N-(2,4-diamino-6-pteridinylmethyl)-N-methylamino] benzoic acid, and the distomer D-MTX is presented. The MEKC separation of these compounds was optimized by applying a step-by-step approach. The addition of beta-CD to a conventional MEKC system, based on sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as surfactant, showed to be essential for the enantioresolution of racemic MTX as well as for the separation of the achiral impurities. To achieve high-resolution factor between the peaks adjacent to the main component (L-MTX), as required in the analysis of related impurities, the separation conditions were stressed; in particular, the addition of methanol to the CD-MEKC system resulted in a very effective choice. Under the optimized final conditions (100 mM SDS and 45 mM beta-CD in a mixture of 50 mM borate buffer, pH 9.30-methanol (75:25 v/v)), the method was validated showing a general adequate accuracy (93-106% recovery) in the determination of L-MTX related substances at the impurity level of 0.12% w/w with a relative standard deviation (RSD)% lower than 8% (n = 4). The method was successfully applied to the analysis of pharmaceuticals (tablets and injections) which showed to contain the distomer D-MTX as major impurity and aminopterine hydrate as a further related substance in the commercial tablets.     

Stereoisomeric separation of pharmaceutical compounds using CE with a chiral crown ether

Optical pure (+)-(18-crown-6)-2,3,11,12-tetracarboxylic acid, a chiral crown ether, was successfully used as a chiral selector for the stereoisomeric separation of numerous real pharmaceutical compounds. Both practical and mechanistic aspects were described. Effects of chiral selector concentration under different pH values of BGE were discussed. Chiral recognition for the enantiomeric compounds with (+)-(18-crown-6)-2,3,11,12-tetracarboxylic acid was investigated through model compounds using CE and infrared spectroscopic techniques. Relations between the enantioselectivity of the chiral crown ether and the structural features of the studied compounds were also investigated. Unusual resolutions of compound-p and its enantiomer as well as compound-o and its 2b epimer were described. These compounds contained only tertiary amine, believed to be nonbinding with crown ethers in general. The possible mechanisms for the interaction between compound-o and the chiral crown ether were investigated using CE, electrospray MS (ESI-MS), and proton ((1)H) NMR spectroscopy. All experiments provided clear evidence that binding between compound-o and the chiral crown ether had occurred. ESI-MS spectra indicated that the complexes had a 1:1 stoichiometric ratio. The advantages and disadvantages of using chiral crown ether for stereoisomeric separations were compared with those using sulfated CDs.     

Electronic properties of achiral and chiral gold nanotubes

The band structure of ten single-walled gold nanotubes of different radius and chirality angle have been calculated by the linearized augmented cylindrical wave method. For all tubes, the Fermi level crosses the half-filled band; therefore, the tubes are characterized by a metallic electronic structure. The band structure of the nanotubes changes relatively weakly with a change in nanotube structure. The valence band width for all the tubes is 9.1 eV. The density of states at the Fermi level remains unaltered with a change in chirality angle and decreases by 30% with an increase in radius from 3 to 12 Å.