Recent trends and applications in liquid-phase chromatography enantioseparation of atropisomers

Amino alcohol-derived chiral stationary phases

An updated minireview of chiral stationary phases (CSPs) based on amino alcohols is presented. In this minireview, we focused on amino alcohols as starting materials in preparation of chiral catalysts for asymmetric organic synthesis and CSPs for chiral separations. Among the various CSPs, we summarized the important developments and applications of the amino alcohol-based Pirkle-type CSPs, ligand exchange CSPs, α-amino acid-derived amino alcohol CSPs, and symmetric CSPs from their first appearance to the present day to propose ideas for the development of new CSPs with improved performance.

Stepwise Solution-Interfacial Nanoarchitectonics for Assembled Film with Full-Color and White-Light Circularly Polarized Luminescence

The fabrication of chiral thin films with tunable circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) colors is important in developing chiroptical materials but remains challenging due to the lack of assembly-initiated chiral film formation methodology. Here, by adopting a combined solution aggregation and interfacial assembly strategy, we report the fabrication of chiral film materials with full-color and white-light CPL. A biquinoline glutamic acid ester (abbreviated as BQGE) shows a typical aggregation-induced emission property with blue CPL after solution aggregation. Subsequent interfacial assembly of these solution aggregates on a solid substrate leads to the formation of a CPL active film consisting of nanobelt structures. Since the BQGE molecule has a coordination site, the CPL emission of an individual BQGE film can be extended from blue to green emission upon coordination with a zinc ion, accompanied by morphology transition from nanobelts to nanofibers. Further extension to red-color CPL is successfully achieved by coassembly with an achiral acceptor dye. Interestingly, the proper combination of coordination ratio and acceptor loading ratio provides bright white-light CPL emission from the BQGE/Zn²⁺/PDA triad composite film. This work provides a new approach to fabricating chiroptical film materials with controlled microscopic morphology and tunable CPL properties.

Recent Progress in Cyclic Aryliodonium Chemistry: Syntheses and Applications

Hypervalent aryliodoumiums are intensively investigated as arylating agents. They are excellent surrogates to aryl halides, and moreover they exhibit better reactivity, which allows the corresponding arylation reactions to be performed under mild conditions. In the past decades, acyclic aryliodoniums are widely explored as arylation agents. However, the unmet need for acyclic aryliodoniums is the improvement of their notoriously low reaction economy because the coproduced aryl iodides during the arylation are often wasted. Cyclic aryliodoniums have their intrinsic advantage in terms of reaction economy, and they have started to receive considerable attention due to their valuable synthetic applications to initiate cascade reactions, which can enable the construction of complex structures, including polycycles with potential pharmaceutical and functional properties. Here, we are summarizing the recent advances made in the research field of cyclic aryliodoniums, including the nascent design of aryliodonium species and their synthetic applications. First, the general preparation of typical diphenyl iodoniums is described, followed by the construction of heterocyclic iodoniums and monoaryl iodoniums. Then, the initiated arylations coupled with subsequent domino reactions are summarized to construct polycycles. Meanwhile, the advances in cyclic aryliodoniums for building biaryls including axial atropisomers are discussed in a systematic manner. Finally, a very recent advance of cyclic aryliodoniums employed as halogen-bonding organocatalysts is described.

Atropisomerism transforming anti-cancer drug discovery

Atropisomerism is a stereochemical phenomenon that describes how groups are arranged in space as a result of their impeded rotation around a single bond. It is one of the frequently underappreciated conformational kinds of chirality. A significant role for atropisomers in drug discovery and development has been established via substantial study on the characteristics of molecules exhibiting this form of chirality. According to studies on the target selectivity of anti-cancer drugs, it was identified that atropisomers of specific compounds could be examined to modulate the selectivity of promiscuous inhibitors, which are a key target in cancer therapy. Conversely, it was discovered that these deliberate rigidifications of possible molecules along an axis of chirality gave an abundant possibility of acquiring more tailored anti-cancer action. Atropisomerism plays a significant role in altering pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties and thereby the success of any proposed drug candidate. It is thus necessary to anticipate the impact of stereogenic centres in such compounds on cancer drug development. Hence, herein we review atropisomeric anti-cancer moieties which have been investigated based on their target proteins, origin and isomerism. The insights offered herein would be extremely useful in anti-cancer drug design, pave way for new avenues to development promising potent agents to combat this life-threatening disease.

Enantioseparations of polyhalogenated 4,4'-bipyridines on polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases and molecular dynamics simulations of selector-selectand interactions

2'-(4-Pyridyl)- and 2'-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-TCIBPs (TCIBP = 3,3',5,5'-tetrachloro-2-iodo-4,4'-bipyridyl) are chiral compounds that showed interesting inhibition activity against transthyretin fibrillation in vitro. We became interested in their enantioseparation since we noticed that the M-stereoisomer is more effective than the P-enantiomer. Based thereon, we recently reported the enantioseparation of 2'-substituted TCIBP derivatives with amylose-based chiral columns. Following this study, herein we describe the comparative enantioseparation of both 2'-(4-pyridyl)- and 2'-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-TCIBPs on four cellulose phenylcarbamate-based chiral columns aiming to explore the effect of the polymer backbone, as well as the nature and position of substituents on the side groups on the enantioseparability of these compounds. In the frame of this project, the impact of subtle variations of analyte and polysaccharide structures, and mobile phase (MP) polarity on retention and selectivity was evaluated. The effect of temperature on retention and selectivity was also considered, and overall thermodynamic parameters associated with the analyte adsorption onto the CSP surface were derived from van 't Hoff plots. Interesting cases of enantiomer elution order (EEO) reversal were observed. In particular, the EEO was shown to be dependent on polysaccharide backbone, the elution sequence of the two analytes being P-M and M-P on cellulose and amylose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate), respectively. In this regard, a theoretical investigation based on molecular dynamics (MD) simulations was performed by using amylose and cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) nonamers as virtual models of the polysaccharide-based selectors. This exploration at the molecular level shed light on the origin of the enantiodiscrimination processes.

Chiral Chalcogen Bond Donors Based on the 4,4'-Bipyridine Scaffold

Organocatalysis through chalcogen bonding (ChB) is in its infancy, as its proof-of-principle was only reported in 2016. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of new chiral ChB donors, as well as the catalytic activity evaluation of the 5,5′-dibromo-2,2′-dichloro-3-((perfluorophenyl)selanyl)-4,4′-bipyridine as organocatalyst. The latter is based on the use of two electron-withdrawing groups, a pentafluorophenyl ring and a tetrahalo-4,4′-bipyridine skeleton, as substituents at the selenium center. Atropisomery of the tetrahalo-4,4′-bipyridine motif provides a chiral environment to these new ChB donors. Their synthesis was achieved through either selective lithium exchange and trapping or a site-selective copper-mediated reaction. Pure enantiomers of the 3-selanyl-4,4′-bipyridine were obtained by high performance liquid chromatography enantioseparation on specific chiral stationary phase, and their absolute configuration was assigned by comparison of the measured and calculated electronic circular dichroism spectra. The capability of the selenium compound to participate in σ-hole-based interactions in solution was studied by ¹⁹F NMR. Even if no asymmetric induction has been observed so far, the new selenium motif proved to be catalytically active in the reduction of 2-phenylquinoline by Hantzsch ester.

Chiral Stationary Phases for Liquid Chromatography: Recent Developments

The planning and development of new chiral stationary phases (CSPs) for liquid chromatography (LC) are considered as continuous and evolutionary issues since the introduction of the first CSP in 1938. The main objectives of the development strategies were to attempt the improvement of the chromatographic enantioresolution performance of the CSPs as well as enlarge their versatility and range of applications. Additionally, the transition to ultra-high-performance LC were underscored. The most recent strategies have comprised the introduction of new chiral selectors, the use of new materials as chromatographic supports or the reduction of its particle size, and the application of different synthetic approaches for preparation of CSPs. This review gathered the most recent developments associated to the different types of CSPs providing an overview of the relevant advances that are arising on LC.

Colistin Sulfate Chiral Stationary Phase for the Enantioselective Separation of Pharmaceuticals Using Organic Polymer Monolithic Capillary Chromatography

A new functionalized polymer monolithic capillary with a macrocyclic antibiotic, namely colistin sulfate, as chiral selector was prepared via the copolymerization of binary monomer mixtures consisting of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) in porogenic solvents namely 1-propanol and 1,4-butanediol, in the presence of azobisiso-butyronitrile (AIBN) as initiator and colistin sulfate. The prepared capillaries were investigated for the enantioselective nano-LC separation of a group of racemic pharmaceuticals, namely, α- and β-blockers, anti-inflammatory drugs, antifungal drugs, norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitors, catecholamines, sedative hypnotics, antihistaminics, anticancer drugs, and antiarrhythmic drugs. Acceptable separation was achieved for many drugs using reversed phase chromatographic conditions with no separation achieved under normal phase conditions. Colistin sulfate appears to be useful addition to the available macrocyclic antibiotic chiral phases used in liquid chromatography.

N-C Axially Chiral Compounds with an ortho-Fluoro Substituent and Steric Discrimination between Hydrogen and Fluorine Atoms Based on a Diastereoselective Model Reaction

The fluorine atom is the second smallest atom; nevertheless, the ortho-fluoro group may lead to stable N-aryl atropisomers when the steric demand of the flanking substituents is large enough. 2-Alkyl-3-(2-fluorophenyl)quinazolin-4-ones and 3-(2-fluorophenyl)-4-methylthiazoline-2-thione were found to be the first N-aryl axially chiral compounds bearing an ortho-fluoro group whose enantiomers were isolated at ambient temperature. The reaction of alkyl halides with the anionic species prepared from 2-ethyl-3-(2-fluorophenyl)quinazolin-4-one presenting an N-C axial chirality provided a model reaction for quantitative evaluation of the steric discrimination (slight difference of steric factor) between hydrogen and fluorine atoms. In the case of low steric demand (allylation reaction) no diastereoselectivity was detected, while in the case of high steric demand (isopropylation reaction) the diastereoselectivity became significant.

Recent studies of docking and molecular dynamics simulation for liquid-phase enantioseparations

Liquid-phase enantioseparations have been fruitfully applied in several fields of science. Various applications along with technical and theoretical advancements contributed to increase significantly the knowledge in this area. Nowadays, chromatographic techniques, in particular HPLC on chiral stationary phase, are considered as mature technologies. In the last thirty years, CE has been also recognized as one of the most versatile technique for analytical scale separation of enantiomers. Despite the huge number of papers published in these fields, understanding mechanistic details of the stereoselective interaction between selector and selectand is still an open issue, in particular for high-molecular weight chiral selectors like polysaccharide derivatives. With the ever growing improvement of computer facilities, hardware and software, computational techniques have become a basic tool in enantioseparation science. In this field, molecular docking and dynamics simulations proved to be extremely adaptable to model and visualize at molecular level the spatial proximity of interacting molecules in order to predict retention, selectivity, enantiomer elution order, and profile noncovalent interaction patterns underlying the recognition process. On this basis, topics and trends in using docking and molecular dynamics as theoretical complement of experimental LC and CE chiral separations are described herein. The basic concepts of these computational strategies and seminal studies performed over time are presented, with a specific focus on literature published between 2015 and November 2018. A systematic compilation of all published literature has not been attempted.

Ribeiro FW, Cervi G, C. Correra T. Evaluation of Common Theoretical Methods for Predicting Infrared Multiphotonic Dissociation Vibrational Spectra of Intramolecular Hydrogen-Bonded Ions

Infrared photodissociation analyses are supported by theoretical calculations that allow a trustworthy interpretation of experimental spectra of gaseous ions. B3LYP calculations are the most prominent method used to model IR spectra, as detailed in our bibliographic survey. However, this and other commonly used methods are known to provide inaccurate energy values and geometries, especially when it comes to long-range interactions, such as intramolecular H-bonds, which show increased anharmonicity. Therefore, we evaluated some of the most commonly used density functional theory methods (B3LYP, CAM-B3LYP, and M06-2X) and basis sets (6-31+G(d,p), 6-311++G(d,p), 6-311++G(3df,2pd), aug-cc-pVDZ, and aug-cc-pVTZ), including anharmonicity and dispersion corrections. The results were compared to MP2 calculations and to experimental high-frequency (2000-4000 cm-1) IR multiphotonic dissociation (IRMPD) spectra of two protonated model molecules containing intramolecular hydrogen bonds: biotin and tryptophan. M06-2X/6-31+G(d,p) was shown to be the most cost-effective level of theory, whereas CAM-B3LYP was the most efficient method to describe the van der Waals interactions. The use of the dispersion correction D3, proposed by Grimme, improved the description of O-H vibrations involved in H-bonding but worsened the description of N-H stretches. Anharmonic calculations were shown to be extremely expensive when compared to other approaches. The efficiencies of well-established scaling factors (SFs) in opposition to sample-dependent SFs were also discussed and the use of fitted SFs were shown to be the most cost-effective approach to predict IRMPD spectra. M06-2X/6-31+G(d,p) and CAM-B3LYP/aug-cc-pVDZ were also tested against the fingerprint region. Our results suggest that these methods can also be used for analysis in this lower frequency range and should be regarded as the methods of choice for cost-effective IRMPD simulations rather than the ubiquitous B3LYP method, especially when further molecular properties are needed.

Enantioselective Synthesis of Pyrrolopyrimidine Scaffolds through Cation-Directed Nucleophilic Aromatic Substitution

The catalytic enantioselective synthesis of 3-aryl-substituted pyrrolopyrimidines (PPYs), a common motif in drug discovery, is achieved through a kinetic resolution via quaternary ammonium salt-catalyzed nucleophilic aromatic substitution (S_NAr). Both enantioenriched products and starting materials can be functionalized with no observed racemization to give enantiodivergent access to diverse chiral analogues of an important class of kinase inhibitor. One of the compounds was found to be a potent and selective inhibitor of breast tumor kinase.