The HPLC Enantioresolution of Phenyl Isothiocyanated Amino Acids on Vancomycin Bonded Phase Using the Acetonitrile‐Based Mobile Phase: A Comparison to the Teicoplanin Phase

The phenyl isothiocyanate, an electrophilic reagent for peptide chain sequencing, is used to pre‐column derivatize a variety of α‐amino acids in alkaline medium before their enantioresolution on a vancomycin bonded chiral phase using the acetonitrile‐based mobile phase. The observed resolution is believed to be due to the re‐location of the hydrogen receptor site from sulfur to nitrogen on the isothiocyanyl fragment of derivatizing reagent, which in turn changes the enantioselectivity. Under the same chromatographic conditions, the resolution for N‐benzoylated, 3,5‐dinitrobenzoylated and N‐carbobenzyloxylated amino acids is either not found or unsatisfactory. Also, no resolution is obtained in the reversed‐ or normal phase mode for all phenyl isothiocyanated amino acids examined in this study.     

Simultaneous operation of plural separation modes in capillary electrophoresis with a chemiluminescence detector possessing a micro-space area for reaction/detection

Analysis of alpha-amino acids, proteins, and phenolic compounds was simultaneously performed using three capillaries in capillary electrophoresis with chemiluminescence detection, taking advantage of the micro-space area for reaction/detection at the tip of the capillary. The three capillaries included usual, polymer-containing, and sodium docley sulfate (SDS)-containing migration buffers for separation. The eluted samples from the capillaries, which were inserted into the chemiluminescence detection cell, were mixed with chemiluminescence reagent at the tips of the capillaries to generate visible light. The specific micro-space area for reaction/detection at the tips of the capillaries enabled the simultaneous operation of the three separation modes in the present system.     

Efficient synthesis of N-acyl-α-amino acids via polymer incarcerated palladium-catalyzed amidocarbonylation

A novel polymer incarcerated Pd catalyst (PI Pd 7c) was synthesized from amide-containing polymer 6b, and this catalyst was shown to be effective in amidocarbonylation, which is a versatile one-pot method for the preparation of N-acyl-α-amino acids. The reactions proceeded smoothly with a wide variety of substrates, and no leaching of the Pd metal to the reaction mixture was detected.     

Partial Molar Volumes of Amino Acids and Peptides in Aqueous Salt Solutions at 25°C and a Correlation with Stability of Proteins in the Presence of Salts

Partial molar volumes for a homologous series of amino acids and peptides have been measured in aqueous 1M sodium acetate, sodium thiocyanate, and sodium sulfate at 25^°C. These data have been utilized in conjunction with the data in water to deduce partial molar volumes of transfer V _2,m ⁰(tr) from water to these aqueous salt solutions. The volumes of transfer for the amino acids and peptides are found to be positive. The interpretation is that this result arises from the dominant interaction of the sodium salts with the charged centers of amino acids and peptides. Thermal denaturation of the structurally homologous proteins lysozyme and -lactalbumin has been studied in the presence of these salts. Significant thermal stabilization of hen egg-white lysozyme has been observed in the presence of sodium acetate and sodium sulfate. However, the thermal stabilization observed for -lactalbumin is very small in the presence of these salts and sodium thiocyanate leads to a lowering of its thermal denaturation temperature. The rise in the surface tension of aqueous salt solutions with salt concentration has been correlated with the calorimetric and volumetric measurements. The results show that V _2,m ⁰(tr) depends less on the type of electrolyte than on the ionic strength of the solution. The V _2,m ⁰(tr) values correlate very well with the increase in the surface tension of aqueous salt solutions, indicating significant role of surface tension in interactions of amino acids, peptides, or protein with the salts.     

Asymmetric Michael addition of glycine imines via quaternary ammonium ion catalysis

The asymmetric Michael addition of glycine imine esters to simple α,β-unsaturated ketones via PTC is investigated. It is found that by employing 1 mol % of a chiral quaternary ammonium salt, derived from α-methylnaphthylamine in conjunction with Cs₂CO₃, high enantioselectivities can be obtained in conjugate additions involving simple alkylvinylketones.     

A novel and green protocol for two-carbon homologation: a direct amino acid/K2CO3-catalyzed four-component reaction of aldehydes, active methylenes, Hantzsch esters and alkyl halides

A novel and green approach for the two-carbon homologation of aldehydes using amino acid catalysis has been developed and further extended to the generation of pharmaceutically active cyano-esters via four-component reactions in one-pot.     

Topical Problems in Elemental Analysis of Advanced Ceramic Materials

Selected prominent problems in the analysis of advanced ceramic materials are surveyed. The importance of reliability of results is discussed in the field of elemental trace- and microanalysis in view of its interaction with economy, power of detection, local resolution and speciation selectivity. Particular problems in the analysis of major constituents, trace components and microlocal distributions are based on the striking propertics of ceramics; they are exemplified. Analytical assistance must start from the beginning of the production processing, in the preparation of the powdered base materials. Determination of the stoichiometry requires high accuracy and differentiation of chemical species in bulk and surface analysis of ceramic base powders. Element trace determination by direct instrumental methods requires standard reference materials for calibration; these are currently inavailable in a sufficient variety. For optimum reliability and power of detection, element traces must be prepared in isolated form in a small excitation volume for analysis. A review on the state-of-the-art of wet-chemical combined procedures is presented. Decomposition position procedures are emphasized, due to their risk of contributing severe systematic error. Combustion in elementary fluorine is presented for decomposition of refractory materials. The performance of some direct procedures is discussed. Very efficient methods are available for element trace determinations in ceramic materials, offering high detection power. Several approaches for high-resolution local microanalysis in non-conductive ceramic materials are identified as the most promising development in the analysis of sintered compact ceramic products and devices.     

Enantioseparation of Amino Acid Derivatives with a Cellulose-Based Chiral Stationary Phase

Five structurally related amino acid derivatives were enantioseparated by HPLC with a commercially available chiral stationary phase, Chiralcel OD-H. The chromatographic experiments were performed in the normal phase mode. n-Hexane/polar alcohol was used as mobile phase. Excellent baseline enantioseparations could be obtained for all these solutes. The effects of the concentration of polar alcohol and the column temperature on the retentions and enantioseparations were studied in detail. From the van't Hoff plots the corresponding apparent thermodynamic parameters were derived. Mechanism aspects of chiral recognition were discussed based on the relationship between the thermodynamic parameters and the structures of the solutes. It was found that the substituent of the phenyl group on the residual group of the amino acid derivatives was close relevant to thermodynamic origin of enantioseparation. Much better enthalpy–entropy compensation effect was obtained by plotting the differential, rather than the original, thermodynamic parameters.     

Effective Methods for the Synthesis of N‐Methyl β‐Amino Acids from All Twenty Common α‐Amino Acids Using 1,3‐Oxazolidin‐5‐ones and 1,3‐Oxazinan‐6‐ones

N‐Methyl β‐amino acids are generally required for application in the synthesis of potentially bioactive modified peptides and other oligomers. Previous work highlighted the reductive cleavage of 1,3‐oxazolidin‐5‐ones to synthesise N‐methyl α‐amino acids. Starting from α‐amino acids, two approaches were used to prepare the corresponding N‐methyl β‐amino acids. First, α‐amino acids were converted to N‐methyl α‐amino acids by the so‐called ‘1,3‐oxazolidin‐5‐one strategy’, and these were then homologated by the Arndt–Eistert procedure to afford N‐protected N‐methyl β‐amino acids derived from the 20 common α‐amino acids. These compounds were prepared in yields of 23–57% (relative to N‐methyl α‐amino acid). In a second approach, twelve N‐protected α‐amino acids could be directly homologated by the Arndt–Eistert procedure, and the resulting β‐amino acids were converted to the 1,3‐oxazinan‐6‐ones in 30–45% yield. Finally, reductive cleavage afforded the desired N‐methyl β‐amino acids in 41–63% yield. One sterically congested β‐amino acid, 3‐methyl‐3‐aminobutanoic acid, did give a high yield (95%) of the 1,3‐oxazinan‐6‐one ( 65 ), and subsequent reductive cleavage gave the corresponding AIBN‐derived N‐methyl β‐amino acid 61 in 71% yield (Scheme 2). Thus, our protocols allow the ready preparation of all N‐methyl β‐amino acids derived from the 20 proteinogenic α‐amino acids.     

Factors affecting the efficiency and stereoselectivity of α-amino acid synthesis by the Petasis reaction

The use of chiral secondary amines containing only one branched substituent has been shown to give optimal yields and stereoselectivities in the preparation of α-amino acids using the Petasis reaction. While the use of chiral primary amines generally gives products in low to moderate diastereoselectivity, chiral secondary amines generally give products in >95:5 diastereoselectivity. Additionally, the use of amines with two chiral (and by definition, branched) N-alkyl substituents results in significantly reduced yields with respect to to secondary amines with one or no branched N-alkyl substituents.