Estimation of the pH-independent binding constants of alanylphenylalanine and leucylphenylalanine stereoisomers with beta-cyclodextrin in the presence of urea

The separation of stereoisomers, particularly enantiomers, is important when their physiological activity differs. We have resolved the four stereoisomers each of alanylphenylalanine (Ala-Phe) and of leucylphenylalanine (Leu-Phe) by capillary electrophoresis using beta-cyclodextrin as a buffer additive and urea to enhance its solubility. A study of the influence of pH and beta-cyclodextrin concentration on the separations showed that weak inclusion complexes were formed between the dipeptides and chiral selector. It was found that pH could alter the migration order of enantiomers L-Ala-L-Phe and D-Ala-D-Phe, as well as L-Leu-L-Phe and D-Leu-D-Phe; however, there was no change in order for the other pairs of optical isomers. Electrophoretic mobility data were used to estimate the acid dissociation constants of the dipeptide isomers at pH < 7 with no chiral selector present. By varying the concentration of beta-cyclodextrin, the chiral selector, the binding constants of Ala-Phe and Leu-Phe optical isomers in their fully protonated and zwitterionic forms were estimated. For the four Ala-Phe stereoisomers, K = 42-66 M(-1) and 4-41 M(-1) for the cationic and zwitterionic forms, respectively. For the four Leu-Phe stereoisomers, K = 43-94 M(-1) and 1-28 M(-1) for the cationic and zwitterionic forms, respectively.