Chirality: An Important Phenomenon Regarding Biosynthesis, Perception, and Authenticity of Flavor Compounds

Chirality plays an important role in flavor research. This will be outlined using selected examples from the key areas analysis, authenticity assessment, biogenesis, and odor perception. Developments of analytical techniques, in particular the use of chiral stationary phases in capillary gas chromatography, enabled the determination of naturally occurring configurations of chiral volatiles at trace levels. Thus, knowledge of pathways and enzymes involved in the biogenesis of chiral substances was acquired, and enantioselective analysis has become a prominent tool in the authenticity assessment of flavorings. Increasing information is also available on structure-odor relationships of chiral flavor compounds and the influence of their configurations on odor thresholds and odor properties. A substantial extension of these data sets and a further understanding of the role of chirality in the perception of aroma compounds is expected from studies on the enantioselectivity of odorant receptor systems. Developments in these areas will be put into a historical perspective, recent progress will be emphasized, and data gaps will be described.

Chiral xenobiotics bioaccumulations and environmental health prospectives

The chiral xenobiotics are very dangerous for all of us due to the different enantioselective toxicities of the enantiomers. Besides, these have different enantioselective bioaccumulations and behaviors in our body and other organisms. It is of urgent need to understand the enantioselective bioaccumulations, toxicities, and the health hazards of the chiral xenobiotics. The present article describes the classification, sources of contamination, distribution, enantioselective bioaccumulation, and the toxicities of the chiral xenobiotics. Besides, the efforts are also made to discuss the prevention and remedial measures of the havoc of the chiral xenobiotics. The challenges of the chiral xenobiotics have also been highlighted. Finally, future prospectives are also discussed.

Enantiomer fractions of chlordane components in sediment from U.S. Geological Survey sites in lakes and rivers

Spatial, temporal, and sediment-type trends in enantiomer signatures were evaluated for cis- and trans-chlordane (CC, TC) in archived core, suspended, and surficial-sediment samples from six lake, reservoir, and river sites across the United States. The enantiomer fractions (EFs) measured in these samples are in good agreement with those reported for sediment, soil, and air samples in previous studies. The chlordane EFs were generally close to the racemic value of 0.5, with CC values ranging from 0.493 to 0.527 (usually >0.5) and TC values from 0.463 to 0.53 (usually <0.5). EF changes with core depth were detected for TC and CC in some cores, with the most non-racemic values near the top of the core. Surficial and suspended sediments generally have EF values similar to the top core layers but are often more non-racemic, indicating that enantioselective degradation is occurring before soils are eroded and deposited into bottom sediments. We hypothesize that rapid losses (desorption or degradation) from suspended sediments of the more bioavailable chlordane fraction during transport and initial deposition could explain the apparent shift to more racemic EF values in surficial and top core sediments. Near racemic CC and TC in the core profiles suggest minimal alteration of chlordane from biotic degradation, unless it is via non-enantioselective processes. EF values for the heptachlor degradate, heptachlor epoxide (HEPX), determined in surficial sediments from one location only were always non-racemic (EF approximately 0.66), were indicative of substantial biotic processing, and followed reported EF trends.

GC separation of 2-substituted ethyl propionate enantiomers on permethylated and 2,6-dimethyl-3-pentyl β- and γ-cyclodextrin stationary phases

In this work, the capillary gas chromatographic enantiomer separation of eight congeneric compounds with general formulae CH3-HCX-COOC2H5 (where X = Cl, Br, I, CN, OH, OC2H5, OC6H5 and NHCOCF3) on four different permethyl- and 2,6-di-O-methyl-3-O-pentyl- beta- and gamma-CD stationary phases has been studied. The separation of enantiomers was evaluated in terms of the interactions of the X substituent of studied derivatives, as well as the nature of the 3-O-alkyl group in the 2,6-di-O-methyl-3-O-alkyl-CDs and the CDs cavity size. The differences in thermodynamic data [deltaH and -deltaS] obtained for studied compounds and the selectivity of modified beta- and gamma-cyclodextrin phases in gas chromatographic separation were evaluated. deltaH values were compared with a deltaH value of an achiral standard (ethyl propionate, where X = H) in order to obtain the contribution of a particular substituent to the overall interaction energy. It was shown that the variation in the enantiomeric separation with temperature and the retention order of these compounds on a given cyclodextrin capillary column depends on the nature of the substituents bonded to stereogenic carbon atom. It was found that the temperature dependencies of selectivity factors, In a on 1/T, were both linear as well as non-linear, inter alia depending on the number of glucopyranose units of the CD derivatives. The enantiospecific thermodynamic data [delta21(deltaH)] and [-delta21(deltaS)] which characterize the chiral recognition in the separation system were used to gain more insight into the mechanistic aspects of the enantioseparations on permethylated and 2,6-di-O-methyl-3-O-pentyl-beta- and gamma-cyclodextrins.

Liquid chromatographic separation of the enantiomers of trans-chlordane, cis-chlordane, heptachlor, heptachlor epoxide and α-hexachlorocyclohexane with application to small-scale preparative separation

Analytical high-performance liquid chromatographic separations of the individual enantiomers of five polychlorinated compounds were obtained on polysaccharide stereoselective HPLC columns. The enantiomers of the pesticides trans-chlordane, cis-chlordane and heptachlor were separated on CHIRALCEL OD using a hexane mobile phase. The enantiomers of the heptachlor metabolite, heptachlor epoxide, were separated on CHIRALPAK AD using a methanol mobile phase. The enantiomers of alpha-hexachlorocyclohexane (alpha-HCH), were separated on CHIRALCEL OJ using a hexane/2-propanol mobile phase. Similar chromatographic conditions using preparative columns were used to isolate approximately 250 mg of each of the individual enantiomers. The purified individual enantiomers have been submitted for testing of their endocrine disruptor (ED) activity.

Applications of modified cyclodextrins

One of the key areas of importance in biotechnology and bioengineering is molecular complexation (MC). MC is useful in selectivity, separation, and solubilization of biomolecules. While many complex, natural MC agents exist, such as proteins and antibodies, relatively few engineered MC materials are available. Inorganic, insoluble MC agents, such as zeolites, are widely used in petroleum catalysis. Carbon Buckminster fullerenes ("bucky balls") can complex small neutral molecules, but are relatively insoluble and difficult to manufacture. Crown ethers have been used for molecular complexation, but are costly to synthesize and have limited capacities. One class of highly useful MC agents are cyclodextrins (CDs). These naturally-occurring, water-soluble cyclic glucans are used in a variety of food, pharmaceutical, and analytical applications. Due to the availability of multiple reactive hydroxyl groups, the functionality of CDs can be greatly increased through chemical modification. A host of new applications are being explored, including enzyme mimicry, molecular recognition, chromatographic separation, and solubilization. This review describes recent applications of modified cyclodextrins in bioprocessing and medicine.

Enantiomeric separation of chiral phenoxy acid herbicides by electrokinetic chromatography. Application to the determination of analyte-selector apparent binding constants for enantiomers

The enantiomeric resolution of chiral phenoxy acid herbicides was performed by electrokinetic chromatography using a cyclodextrin as chiral pseudophase (CD-EKC). A systematic evaluation of several neutral and charged cyclodextrins was made. Among the cyclodextrins tested, (2-hydroxy)propyl beta-cyclodextrin (HP-beta-CD) was found to be the most appropriate for the enantioseparation of phenoxy acids. The influence of some experimental conditions, such as nature and pH of the background electrolyte, chiral selector concentration, and temperature, on the enantiomeric separation of phenoxy acids was also studied. The use of a 50 mM electrolyte solution in ammonium formate at pH 5 and a temperature of 40 degrees C enabled the enantiomeric resolution of four of the six phenoxy acids investigated (2-phenoxypropionic acid, 2(3-chlorophenoxy)propionic acid, 2-(4-chlorophenoxy)propionic acid, and 2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)propionic acid) obtaining migration times ranging from 9 to 15 min. Mixtures of the two phenoxy acids not enantiomerically resolved (2-(4-chlorophenoxy)-2-methylpropionic acid and 2-(2,4,5-trichlorophenoxy)propionic acid) and up to three of the phenoxy acids enantiomerically resolved were separated in about 15 min. Finally, the apparent binding constants for each enantiomer-HP-beta-CD pair were calculated at two temperature values (20 and 40 degrees C).

Chromatographic enantiomer separation of chiral xenobiotics and their metabolites--a versatile tool for process studies in marine and terrestrial ecosystems

A review discussing methodical aspects of enantioselective chromatographic separation of chiral environmental xenobiotics as well as examples for process studies reported in literature. The process studies include microbial transformation of chiral pollutants in aquatic ecosystems, their enzymatic transformation in biota, their photochemical degradation, air/sea exchange processes and atmospheric long range transport, and enantioselective toxic effects.

Enantiomeric separation of an aryloxyphenoxypropanoic acid by CE and LC

A capillary electrophoresis (CE) and an high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) chiral separation have been developed for an aryloxyphenoxypropanoic acid, 2-[4-[(7-chloro-2-quinoxalinyl)oxy]phenoxy]propanoic acid, a new antitumor agent. The racemic mixture is analyzed, without derivatization, as the free acids. The CE assay is based on inclusion complexation with hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin. HPLC separation is achieved with a CSP column with the glycopeptide, teicoplanin, as the chiral selector. Both methods give baseline resolution to the R-and S-isomers. The methods were validated for assay and for optical purity assessment of the R-isomer. For assay, the HPLC method is precise (RSD < 0.6%), accurate (error, 0.5%) and linear (r2 = 0.9998). It is able to precisely (RSD = 0.5%) and accurately (error, 0.9%) detect 0.3-6.0% of one isomer (S) in the other (R). The CE assay is much less precise and accurate than HPLC. It is a good alternative to separate and detect the enantiomers, however.

Temperature-induced inversion of elution order in the enantioseparation of sotalol on a cellobiohydrolase I-based stationary phase

The effect of temperature on the resolution of (RS)-sotalol by immobilized cellobiohydrolase I (CBH I) was studied between 5 and 40 degrees C and Van 't Hoff plots of ln k versus 1/T were acquired at different pH values of the aqueous mobile phase and in the presence of varying organic cosolvents. The elution order of the enantiomers reverses in the range between 17 and 28 degrees C. Beyond this range, enantioseparations with comparatively high resolution factors are achieved either by decreasing or by increasing the temperature. The composition of the mobile phase influences the "crossover" temperature as well as the character of the global adsorption process of the (R)-(-)-enantiomer. Under certain conditions, (R)-(-)-sotalol exhibits an unusual endothermic adsorption behavior. Its retention time increases with increasing temperature. At room temperature (23 degrees C) the enantiomeric elution order can also be regulated by the solvent additive.

Enantioselective determination of chiral organochlorine compounds in biota by gas chromatography on modified cyclodextrins

Approaches to the gas chromatographic enantiomer separation of chiral organchlorines (alpha-hexachlorocyclohexane, cis- and trans-chlordane, heptachlor, heptachlorepoxide, oxychlordane, o,p'-DDT, compounds of technical toxaphene and stable atropisomeric polychlorinated biphenyls) are reviewed. Chiral stationary phases based on cyclodextrin derivatives and used for the gas chromatographic enantiomer separation of the chiral organochlorines are described. Enantiomeric ratios of chiral organochlorines in technical mixtures and biological samples are reported and discussed.

Levels of alpha-HCH, lindane, and enantiomeric ratios of alpha-HCH in marine mammals from the northern hemisphere

The enantiomeric ratios of alpha-HCH were determined by chiral gas chromatography in blubber of marine mammals from regions of the northern hemisphere (North Sea, Baltic Sea, Arctic and Iceland). Cetaceans (harbour porpoises and white-beaked dolphins) showed a preferential accumulation of (+)-alpha-HCH. In blubber of harbour seals, grey seals and harp seals (+)-alpha-HCH was also more abundant than (-)-alpha-HCH. Hooded seals formed an exception with a (+/-) enantiomeric ratio of alpha-HCH < 1.

Enantioselective degradation of alpha-hexachlorocyclohexane and cyclodiene insecticides in roe-deer liver samples from different regions of Germany

Remarkably high concentrations of alpha-hexachlorocyclohexane (alpha-HCH), cis-heptachlorepoxide and oxychlordane were found in roe-deer liver samples both from the northern and southern German states Schleswig-Holstein and Baden-Württemberg, respectively. The data revealed no significant regional differences, but they showed some common characteristics: a preferential degradation of (+)-alpha-HCH, and a preferential enrichment of (+)-oxychlordane and of (+)-cis-heptachlorepoxide as determined by chiral capillary gas chromatography using modified cyclodextrin phases. Calculation of the spearman rank correlation coefficients rS supported the assumption that higher concentrations of alpha-HCH may result in a stronger decomposition of the (+)-enantiomer, while higher levels of cis-heptachlorepoxide and oxychlordane appear to lead to a faster decomposition of the respective (-)-enantiomer or a preferential formation of the respective (+)-enantiomer.