Direct enantioseparation of lipoic acid in dietary supplements by capillary electrophoresis using trimethyl-β-cyclodextrin as a chiral selector

NMR chiral recognition of lipoic acid by cinchonidine CSA: A stereocenter beyond the organic function

Alpha-lipoic acid is a natural product that possesses distinct pharmacological properties. Lipoic acid is a short-chain fatty acid containing an asymmetric carbon at five bonds of distance to the organic function. Herein, we developed a nuclear magnetic resonance protocol to access the chiral recognition of lipoic acid in a simple and rapid procedure employing cinchonidine as a cheap chiral solvation agent in deuterated chloroform. To optimize this method, a statistical design of the experimental model was performed to produce a clear understanding of the optimal concentration, temperature, and molar ratio parameters. Based on the obtained spectra, the cinchonidine H₈ -H₉ scalar coupling indicated a conformational preference in the chiral discrimination procedure. Density functional theory calculations established a proximity between the asymmetric center of lipoic acid and the aromatic moiety of cinchonidine, clarifying possible conformations in this ion-pair interaction. The described protocol demonstrates how far is far enough to chiral discrimination using a chiral solvation agent, expanding the method to compounds that contain a remote stereocenter.

Single isomer cyclodextrins as chiral selectors in capillary electrophoresis

Since decades, cyclodextrins are one of the most powerful selectors in chiral capillary electrophoresis for the enantioseparation of diverse organic compounds. This review concerns papers published over the last decade (from 2009 until nowadays), dealing with the capillary electrophoretic application of single isomer cyclodextrin derivatives in chiral separations. Following a brief overview of their synthetic approaches, the inventory of the neutral, negatively and positively charged (including both permanently ionic and pH-tunable ionizable substituents) and zwitterionic CD derivatives is presented, with insights to underlying structural aspects by NMR spectroscopy and molecular modeling. CE represents an ideal tool to study the weak, non-covalent supramolecular interactions. The published methods are reviewed in the light of enantioselectivity, enantiomer migration order and the fine-tuning of enantiodiscrimination by the substitution pattern of the single entity selector molecules, which is hardly possible for their randomly substituted counterparts. All the reviewed publications herein support that cyclodextrin-based chiral capillary electrophoresis seems to remain a popular choice in pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis.

Fast quantification of α-lipoic acid in biological samples and dietary supplements using batch injection analysis with amperometric detection

Batch injection analysis (BIA) with amperometric detection, using a pyrolytic graphite electrode modified with cobalt phthalocyanine (PG/CoPc), was employed for determination of α-lipoic acid (ALA) in pharmaceutical product and in synthetic urine samples. The proposed BIA method is based on the application of a potential of +0.9V vs. Ag/AgCl, KCl sat, enabling quantification of ALA over a concentration range from 1.3×10(-6) to 1.0×10(-4)molL(-1), with a detection limit of 1.5×10(-8)molL(-1). A sampling rate of 180 injections per hour was attained and measurements of the reproducibility of successive injections (100µmolL(-1) ALA on the same electrode) showed a RSD of 2.11% for 40 successive injections. The new sensor was utilised for ALA quantification in a dietary pharmaceutical supplement and in synthetic urine and the results obtained for both samples were compared with parallel analysis using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), the method recommended by the United States Pharmacopeia. The results obtained were similar (at a 95% confidence level) and in the case of the synthetic urine sample (prepared with a known amount of ALA) the recovery was situated between 98.0% and 102.6%.

Capillary Electrophoresis in Food and Foodomics

Quality and safety assessment as well as the evaluation of other nutritional and functional properties of foods imply the use of robust, efficient, sensitive, and cost-effective analytical methodologies. Among analytical technologies used in the fields of food analysis and foodomics, capillary electrophoresis (CE) has generated great interest for the analyses of a large number of compounds due to its high separation efficiency, extremely small sample and reagent requirements, and rapid analysis. The introductory section of this chapter provides an overview of the recent applications of capillary electrophoresis (CE) in food analysis and foodomics. Relevant reviews and research articles on these topics are tabulated including papers published in the period 2011-2014. In addition, to illustrate the great capabilities of CE in foodomics the chapter describes the main experimental points to be taken into consideration for a metabolomic study of the antiproliferative effect of carnosic acid (a natural diterpene found in rosemary) against HT-29 human colon cancer cells.

Spectroscopic studies of R(+)-α-lipoic acid--cyclodextrin complexes

α-Lipoic acid (ALA) has a chiral center at the C6 position, and exists as two enantiomers, R(+)-ALA (RALA) and S(−)-ALA (SALA). RALA is naturally occurring, and is a cofactor for mitochondrial enzymes, therefore playing a major role in energy metabolism. However, RALA cannot be used for pharmaceuticals or nutraceuticals because it readily polymerizes via a 1,2-dithiolane ring-opening when exposed to light or heat. So, it is highly desired to find out the method to stabilize RALA. The purpose of this study is to provide the spectroscopic information of stabilized RALA and SALA through complexation with cyclodextrins (CDs), α-CD, β-CD and γ-CD and to examine the physical characteristics of the resultant complexes in the solid state. The RALA-CD structures were elucidated based on the micro fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and Raman analyses. The FT-IR results showed that the C=O stretching vibration of RALA appeared at 1717 cm⁻¹ and then shifted on formation of the RALA-CD complexes. The Raman spectra showed that the S–S and C–S stretching vibrations for RALA at 511 cm⁻¹ (S–S), 631 cm⁻¹ (C–S) and 675 cm⁻¹ (C–S) drastically weakened and almost disappeared upon complexation with CDs. Several peaks indicative of O–H vibrations also shifted or changed in intensity. These results indicate that RALA and CDs form host-guest complexes by interacting with one another.

Advance of CE and CEC in phytochemical analysis (2012–2013)

This article presents an overview of the advance of CE and CEC in phytochemical analysis, based on the literature not mentioned in our previous review papers [Chen, X. J., Zhao, J., Wang, Y. T., Huang, L. Q., Li, S. P., Electrophoresis 2012, 33, 168–179], mainly covering the years 2012–2013. In this article, attention is paid to online preconcentration, rapid separation, and sensitive detection. Selected examples illustrate the applicability of CE and CEC in biomedical, pharmaceutical, environmental, and food analysis. Finally, some general conclusions and future perspectives are given.