Interpreting the effects of temperature and solvent composition on separation of amino-acid racemates by chiral ligand-exchange chromatography

Chiral secondary amino acids, their importance, and methods of analysis

Naturally occurring secondary amino acids, with proline as the main representative, contain an alpha-imino group in a cycle that is typically four-, five-, and six-membered. The unique ring structure exhibits exceptional properties-conformational rigidity, chemical stability, and specific roles in protein structure and folding. Many proline analogues have been used as valuable compounds for the study of metabolism of both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and for the synthesis of compounds with desired biological, pharmaceutical, or industrial properties. The D-forms of secondary amino acids play different roles in living organisms than the L-forms. They have different metabolic pathways, biological, physiological, and pharmacological effects, they can be indicators of changes and also serve as biomarkers of diseases. In the scientific literature, the number of articles examining D-amino acids in biological samples is increasing. The review summarises information on the occurrence and importance of D- and L-secondary amino acids-azetidic acid, proline, hydroxyprolines, pipecolic, nipecotic, hydroxypipecolic acids and related peptides containing these D-AAs, as well as the main analytical methods (mostly chromatographic) used for their enantiomeric determination in different matrices (biological samples, plants, food, water, and soil).

Chiral chromatography method screening strategies: Past, present and future

Method screening is an integral part of chromatographic method development for the separation of racemates. Due to the highly complex retention mechanism of a chiral stationary-phase, it is often difficult, if not impossible, to device predefined method-development steps that can be successfully applied to a wide group of molecules. The standard approach is to evaluate or screen a series of stationary and mobile-phase combinations to increase the chances of detecting a suitable separation condition. Such a process is often the rate-limiting step for high-throughput analyses and purification workflows. To address the problem, several solutions and strategies have been proposed over the years for reduction of net method-screening time. Some of the strategies have been adopted in practice while others remained confined in the literature. The main objective of this review is to revisit, critically discuss and compile the solutions published over the last two decades. We expect that making the diverse set of solutions available in a single document will help assessing the adequacy of existing screening protocols in laboratories conducting chiral separation.

Application of achiral-chiral two-dimensional HPLC for separation of phenylalanine and tryptophan enantiomers in dietary supplement

This study developed a two-dimensional heart-cutting LC method for the separation of amino acid enantiomers. Two approaches for achiral separation of amino acids, phenylalanine and tryptophan, were selected. Amino acids were separated on C18 or hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) columns in first dimension after their enantiomer separation on a teicoplanin chiral column in second dimension. Mobile phases for both separation systems were optimized by testing different types of organic modifiers, concentrations of ion-pair agent (sodium 1-octanesulfonate), and ionic modifier (ammonium acetate). The resolution of enantiomers higher than 1.5 for both amino acids was achieved using a C18-teicoplanin coupled column separation system with mobile phases methanol/2 mM sodium 1-octanesulfonate (10:90 and 75:25, step gradient between achiral and chiral columns, respectively). The lower resolution of amino acid enantiomers (R_S ˃ 0.9), but higher column efficiency, was achieved on a HILIC-teicoplanin separation system with mobile phases acetonitrile/50 mM ammonium acetate (90:10 and 80:20, step gradient between achiral and chiral columns, respectively). The developed heart-cutting 2D-LC methods were validated in terms of linearity, limit of detection, limit of quantification, precision, and accuracy. The results suggested that the developed methods were applicable for the simultaneous determination of amino acid enantiomers in the dietary supplement. The sample contained l-phenylalanine and l-tryptophan.

Evaluation of enantiomeric purity of magnesium-L-aspartate dihydrate

Magnesium supplementation in form of organic magnesium salts is a very popular practice. We examined the enantiomeric purity of "Magnesium aspartate dihydrate" monographed in the European Pharmacopeia. A chiral capillary zone electrophoresis using (2-hydroxypropyl)-β-cyclodextrin coupled to laser induced fluorescence detection and a HPLC-fluorescence method with chiral derivatization using o-phthaldialdehyde and N-acetyl-L-cysteine as an orthogonal method were developed and validated. Two batch samples of this substance and three drug products containing the salt were analyzed by means of both methods. The concentration of the D-enantiomer of aspartic acid ranged from 0.03 to 0.12%. Simulations of the synthesis revealed that the d-aspartic acid content is elevated if the dissolution of L-aspartic acid was performed at acidic pH values.

A multiple chemical equilibria approach to modeling and interpreting the separation of amino acid enantiomers by chiral ligand-exchange chromatography

A model of chiral ligand-exchange chromatography (CLEC) is presented that combines the non-ideal equilibrium-dispersion equation for solute transport with equations describing all chemical equilibria within the column. The model connects elution band profiles to the time and space resolved formation of diastereomeric complexes in both the mobile and stationary phases, thereby providing insights into the overall separation mechanism. The stoichiometries and formation constants for all equilibrium complexes formed in the mobile phase are taken from standard thermodynamic databases and independent potentiometric titration experiments. Formation constants for complexes formed with the stationary phase ligand are determined from potentiometric titration data for a water-soluble analogue of the ligand. Together this set of pure thermodynamic parameters can be used to calculate the equilibrium composition of the system at any operating condition. The model includes a temperature-dependent pure-component parameter, determined by regression to a single elution band for the pure component, that corrects for subtle effects associated with immobilizing the ligand (i.e., the chiral selector) onto the stationary phase. Model performance is assessed through comparison with chromatograms for two hydrophobic amino acid racemates loaded on the Nucleosil Chiral-1 CLEC column. The model is also applied to a restricted optimization of column operating conditions to assess its predictive power. In both cases, model predictions compare well with experiment while also providing a molecular understanding of the separation process and its dependence on column operating conditions.

Elevated temperature and temperature programming in conventional liquid chromatography – fundamentals and applications

Temperature, as a powerful variable in conventional LC is discussed from a fundamental point of view and illustrated with applications from the author's laboratory. Emphasis is given to the influence of temperature on speed, selectivity, efficiency, detectability, and mobile phase composition (green chromatography). The problems accompanying the use of elevated temperature and temperature programming in LC are reviewed and solutions are described. The available stationary phases for high temperature operation are summarized and a brief overview of recent applications reported in the literature is given.