Analysis of derivatized and underivatized theanine enantiomers by high-performance liquid chromatography/atmospheric pressure ionization-mass spectrometry

Theanine, a naturally occurring non-proteinic amino acid found in tea leaves, has demonstrated wide-ranging physiological activity, from lowering blood pressure to enhancing the anti-tumor activity of chemotherapeutic drugs. The chiral nature of theanine suggests that enantiospecificity plays a significant role in its various pharmacological functions. Using the Chirobiotic T (teicoplanin) chiral stationary phase, native and derivatized theanine enantiomers were separated and detected via high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometry (API-MS). With the use of flow rates compatible with each ionization source, native theanine standards achieved excellent sensitivity and detection limits (10 ng/mL) for both atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) and electrospray ionization (ESI). Optimum sensitivity and detection limits for derivatized theanine standards were achieved using ESI-MS. The enantiomeric composition of six commercially available L-theanine samples was evaluated using the high-flow APCI-MS method and confirmed with photodiode array detection. Five of the six products contained significant amounts of D-theanine. Only one product, SunTheanine, appeared to contain only the L-theanine enantiomer.     

The thermal decomposition of aluminium sulfate

The mechanism of thermal decomposition of aluminum sulfate has been investigated in the 500–700°C temperature range using a flow reactor system with the emitted gaseous sulfur oxides collected in a Goksøyr—Ross coil and a hydrogen peroxide impinger. Sulfur trioxide (SO₃) was found to be the primary sulfur oxide released during thermal decomposition (1).

Less than 3% of the released sulfur oxides were sulfur dioxide (SO₂), indicating that the SO₃ dissociation reaction (2) is slow relative to the residence time of the SO₃ in the reactor (～ 1 sec).

The experimental technique should be readily adaptable to the study of the thermal decomposition of other metal sulfates.     

A "traceless" Staudinger ligation for the chemoselective synthesis of amide bonds

[reaction: see text] Here we report a novel modification of our previously reported "Staudinger ligation" that generates an amide bond from an azide and a specifically functionalized phosphine. This method for the selective formation of an amide bond, which does not require the orthogonal protection of distal functional groups, should find general utility in synthetic and biological chemistry.     

Trace metal determination in animal tissues: an interlaboratory comparison

Two dried and powdered preparations of narwhal liver and muscle were distributed to 13 laboratories for analysis for Cu, Cd, Zn, Pb, Hg, and Se. Laboratories chose their own methods, using atomic-absorption spectrometry, atomic-emission spectrometry with a direct-current or inductively-coupled plasma, anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV), neutron activation analysis (NAA), and gas chromatography. The coefficients of variation ranged from 2 to 5% for Cu, Cd, Zn, Hg in liver, but were somewhat higher for Zn by ASV and NAA. In muscle, the precision for Zn was similar to that for liver, but was poorer for Cu (8.8%) and Cd (19%). For Pb, the overall precision was 15% and 21% for liver and muscle respectively. Selenium in both tissues was determined with an overall precision of 6-7%, except by NAA, for which it was considerably worse, at 21-26%.     

Amination and [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of propargylic sulfides using a ketomalonate-derived oxaziridine: synthesis of N-allenylsulfenimides

Amination of propargylic sulfides with a ketomalonate-derived oxaziridine under metal free conditions gives N-Boc-N-allenylsulfenimides via [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement.     

LC and LC-MS Separation of Peptides on Macrocyclic Glycopeptide Stationary Phases: Diastereomeric Series and Large Peptides

Previous work on the LC separation of peptides had shown that macrocyclic glycopeptide stationary phases to be selective for peptides of five to thirteen amino acids in length. In this work, the selectivity of the teicoplanin stationary phase is compared to that of a C18 stationary phase for seven diastereomeric enkephalin peptides. The teicoplanin stationary phase separated all seven diastereomeric enkephalin peptides in a single chromatographic run. The insertion of d-amino acids into the primary enkephalin sequence produced areas of hydrophobicity that influenced retention order on the C18 stationary phase. However, analogous trends are not observed on the teicoplanin stationary phase, which is more polar and structurally diverse. Optimization of the mobile phase and the use of a step-gradient for the enkephalin separation on the teicoplanin stationary phase is discussed. Also, the selectivity of macrocyclic glycopeptide stationary phases for peptides of 14, 28, 30, and 36 amino acids also is investigated and compared to separation on a C18 stationary phase. A method for eluting peptides with multiple basic amino acids, which tend to be strongly retained on the macrocyclic glycopeptide stationary phases, is presented.     

Synthesis and Conformational Analysis of the Multidrug Resistance-Reversing Agent Hapalosin and Its Non-N-methyl Analog

Hapalosin was initially synthesized by macrolactonization, and a second synthesis was achieved by cycloamidation. In both syntheses, three of the five stereocenters in hapalosin were established by two Brown allylboration reactions. The synthesis of the non-N-Me analog of hapalosin involved chelation-controlled reduction of a gamma-amino-beta-keto ester and cycloamidation. In CDCl(3) at 25 degrees C, synthetic hapalosin exists as a 2.3:1 mixture of conformers, while its non-N-Me analog exists only as a single conformer. (1)H,(1)H-NOESY and computation reveal that the configuration of the amide bond is responsible for the conformations of the two compounds. The major conformer of hapalosin is found to be an s-cis amide, the minor conformer an s-trans amide, and the non-N-Me analog an s-trans amide. Applying distance constraints to protons that exhibit NOESY correlations, computation shows that the major conformer of hapalosin and the non-N-Me analog have very different conformations. By contrast, the minor conformer of hapalosin and the non-N-Me analog have very similar conformations.     

Super/Subcritical Fluid Chromatography Separations with Four Synthetic Polymeric Chiral Stationary Phases

New synthetic polymeric chiral selectors were developed recently as chiral stationary phases. They were tested with supercritical fluid mobile phases made of CO₂ plus an alcohol modifier and 0.2% v/v trifluoroacetic acid. The polymeric N,N′-(1S,2S)-1,2-cyclohexanediyl-bis-2-propenamide (P-CAP), the polymeric N,N′-[(1R,2R)]-1,2-diphenyl-1,2-ethanediyl] bis-2-propenamide (P-CAP-DP), the polymeric trans-9,10-dihydro-9,10-ethanoanthracene-(11S,12S)-11,12-dicarboxylic acid bis-4-vinylphenylamide (DEABV) and the polymeric N,N′-[(1R,2R)-1,2-diphenyl-1,2-ethanediyl] bis-4-vinylbenzamide (DPEVB) were bonded to 5 μm silica particles and used to prepare four columns that were tested with a set of 88 chiral compounds with a wide variety of chemical functionalities. All 88 test compounds were separated on one or more of these “related” polymeric CSPs. Forty-three enantiomeric pairs were separated in SFC conditions by only one of the CSPs. Twenty pairs were separated by two CSPs and 18 and 7 enantiomeric pairs were separated by 3 and all 4 CSPs, respectively. The three P-CAP, P-CAP-DP and DEABV CSPs have equivalent success being able to separate 49 enantiomeric pairs of the studied set with respectively 12, 14 and 20 at baseline (R _s  > 1.5). The DPEVB CSP was significantly less efficient separating only 18 chiral compounds with only one at baseline. The great advantage of the SFC mobile phases is the rapid separation, witch most achieved in less than 5 min.     

Evaluation of molecule-microbe interactions with capillary electrophoresis: procedures, utility and restrictions

Understanding the interactions between molecules and living organisms is of paramount importance for the evaluation of pharmaceutical activity, chemical toxicity and all manner of microbiological studies. The capability of capillary electrophoresis (CE) in the evaluation of molecule-microbe interactions is examined in the present paper. The fundamental chemical concept of the binding or association constant for molecular systems measured in free solution is discussed for biological systems where microorganisms uptake or associate with molecules from their environment. The heterogeneity of the living organisms must be understood and accounted for including differences related to semantics such as concentration units and the nature of the associations between two entities and large differences in the size and number of microorganisms as compared to molecules. Finally, the added complexity and even inhomogeneity of a cell compared to most molecular systems must be considered and possibly controlled. The binding of specific molecules to viruses is discussed. CE can be utilized to quickly determine if a molecule binds very strongly or not at all to a cell (i.e., a binary yes/no answer). This could be useful for initial high-throughput screening purposes when using capillary arrays, for example. CE can be useful for determining unusual (large) molecule/microbe stoichiometries. Finally, CE can sometimes be used to determine the size of binding constants (K(RL)) within certain limits provided experimental conditions can be formulated that minimize problems of biological heterogeneity.     

Asymmetric Synthesis of Calyculin C. 2. Synthesis of the C(26)-C(37) Fragment and Model Wittig Couplings

We report our synthesis of the C(26)-C(37) fragment of serine/threonine protein phosphatase PP1 and PP2A inhibitor calyculin C (1). Outlined in this paper are synthetic approaches to the two components based on disconnection at the C(33)-N(3) amide bond. We report the successful synthesis of the C(33)-C(37) aza-sugar derived from D-lyxose which was coupled onto a C(26)-C(32) aminooxazole originating from L-pyroglutamic acid. Elaboration of the resulting amide to a fully deprotected C(26)-C(37) fragment of calyculin C completed our synthesis. This provided an appropriate phosphonium salt for use in a Wittig olefination for joining both halves of the natural product.