Synthesis of a poly(diphenylacetylene) bearing optically active anilide pendants and its application to a chiral stationary phase for high-performance liquid chromatography

Recent advances in chiral selectors immobilization and chiral mobile phase additives in liquid chromatographic enantio-separations: A review

For decades now, the separation of chiral enantiomers of drugs has been gaining the interest and attention of researchers. In 1991, the first guidelines for development of chiral drugs were firstly released by the US-FDA. Since then, the development in chromatographic enantioseparation tools has been fast and variable, aiming at creating a suitable environment where the physically and chemically identical enantiomers can be separated. Among those tools, the immobilization of chiral selectors (CS) on different stationary phases and the chiral mobile phase additives (CMPA) which have been progressed and studied extensively. This review article highlights the major advances in immobilization of CS together with their different recognition mechanisms as well as CMPA as a cheaper and successful alternative for chiral stationary phases. Moreover, the role of molecular modeling tool as a pre-step in the choice of CS for evaluating possible interactions with different ligands has been pointed up. Illustrations of reported methods and updates for immobilized CS and CMPA have been included.

Facile Synthesis of Linear and Cyclic Poly(diphenylacetylene)s by Molybdenum and Tungsten Catalysis

Improved methods for the synthesis of linear and cyclic poly(diphenylacetylene)s by polymerization of the corresponding diphenylacetylenes using MoCl5 - and WCl4 -based catalytic systems have been developed. MoCl5 induces migratory insertion polymerization of diphenylacetylenes in the presence of arylation reagents such as Ph4 Sn and ArSnn Bu3 to produce cis-stereoregular linear poly(diphenylacetyelene)s with high molecular weights (number-average molar mass (Mn )=30,000-3,200,000) in good yields (up to 98 %). On the other hand, WCl4 induces ring expansion polymerization of diphenylacetylenes in the presence of Ph4 Sn or reducing reagents to produce cis-stereoregular cyclic poly(diphenylacetylene)s with high molecular weights (Mn =20,000-250,000) in moderate to good yields (up to 90 %). Both catalytic systems are applicable to the polymerization of various diphenylacetylenes having polar functional groups such as esters that are not efficiently polymerized by conventional methods using WCl6 -Ph4 Sn and TaCl5 -n Bu4 Sn systems.

Recent advances of optically active helical polymers as adsorbents and chiral stationary phases for chiral resolution

Chiral resolution is very important and still a big challenge due to different biological activity and same physicochemical property of one pair (R)- and (S)-isomer. There is no doubt that chiral selectors are essentially needed for chiral resolution, which can stereoselectively interact with a pair of isomers. To date, a large amount of optically active helical polymers as chiral selectors have been synthesized via two strategies. First, the target helical polymers are derived from natural polysaccharide such as cellulose and amylose. Second, they can be synthesized by polymerization of chiral monomers. Alternatively, an achiral polymer is prepared first followed by static or dynamic chiral induction. Furthermore, a part of them is harnessed as chiral stationary phases for chromatographic chiral separation and as chiral adsorbents for enantioselective adsorption/crystallization, resulting in good enantioseparation efficiency. In summary, the present review will focus on recent progress of the polymers with optical activity for chiral resolution, especially the literature published in the past 10 years. In addition, development prospects and future challenges of optically active helical polymers will be discussed in detail.

Solvent-dependent helix inversion in optically active poly(diphenylacetylene)s and their chiral recognition abilities as chiral stationary phases for high-performance liquid chromatography

We report the first example of solvent-dependent helix inversion in poly(diphenylacetylene) (PDPA) derivatives. Asymmetrically substituted PDPAs bearing optically active substituents linked through amide bonds formed preferred-handed helical conformations because of the optically active substituents in the pendants, whose helix-senses were inverted upon thermal annealing in polar solvents such as N,N-dimethylformamide and dimethylsulfoxide and in nonpolar solvents such as tetrachloroethane. Unlike the solvent-dependent helix inversion reported for other dynamic helical polymers, the macromolecular helicity induced in the polymer backbone of these PDPAs upon thermal annealing was stably maintained at room temperature, independent of the solvent polarity. These diastereomeric PDPAs with opposite helix-senses generated almost mirror-imaged left- and right-handed circularly polarized light in the same solvent at room temperature. Taking advantage of this unique solvent-dependent helix inversion property, the diastereomeric PDPAs with opposite helix-senses were coated on macroporous silica gel and applied to chiral stationary phases for high-performance liquid chromatography. Despite having the same optically active substituents on the pendant phenyl rings, they showed completely different chiral recognition abilities toward many racemates depending on the helix-sense of the polymer backbone, and the elution order of the enantiomers was reversed for some racemates. The combination of the helix-sense of the polymer backbone and the chirality of the pendants, which afforded a higher chiral recognition ability, differed depending on the racemates.

Macromolecular helicity induction and static helicity memory of poly(biphenylylacetylene)s bearing aromatic pendant groups and their use as chiral stationary phases for high-performance liquid chromatography

Two novel poly(biphenylylacetylene)s (PBPAs) bearing achiral alkylphenyl groups at the 4'-position of the biphenyl pendant through ester linkers with different sequences were synthesized by the rhodium-catalyzed polymerization of the corresponding monomers. The influence of the alkylphenyl pendants and the ester sequences on the macromolecular helicity induction and subsequent static helicity memory was investigated. In addition, the chiral recognition ability as chiral stationary phases for high-performance liquid chromatography of the helicity-memorized PBPAs was also examined. Both polymers formed almost perfect right- and left-handed helical conformations through noncovalent chiral interactions with enantiomeric alcohols, and their induced macromolecular helicities were completely retained ("memorized") after removal of the helix inducer. A PBPA bearing a 4-n-butylphenoxycarbonyl pendant group with a static helicity memory showed a remarkably high chiral recognition ability toward a wide variety of chiral aromatics, including simple point chiral compounds, axially chiral biaryls, a chiral spiro compound, helicenes, and planar chiral cyclophanes, particularly under the reversed-phase conditions.

Chiral stationary phases based on lactide derivatives for high-performance liquid chromatography

Lactide is a natural and renewable lactone cyclic ester-containing intrinsic chiral center, providing an affordable natural compound that is potential for the development of chiral polymers. In this work, we reported two novel chiral stationary phases (CSPs) based on lactide derivatives, methylene lactide (MLA), for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). By using free radical polymerization, chemically bonded CSPs of poly(methylene lactide) (PMLA) and side-chain modified PMLA by aminolysis (N-PMLA) can be prepared. Also, poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA) was prepared as a control. The chiral resolution performance of the chromatographic columns was examined in both reversed-phase and normal-phase modes. PMLA and N-PMLA CSPs exhibited fairly good chiral recognition ability, whereas the separation ability of PLLA is much weaker. This work provides a new platform for the development of high-performance CSPs from affordable natural products.

Recent progress in the development of chiral stationary phases for high-performance liquid chromatography

Separations and analyses of chiral compounds are important in many fields, including pharmaceutical production, preparation of chemical intermediates, and biochemistry. High-performance liquid chromatography using a chiral stationary phase is regarded as one of the most valuable methods for enantiomeric separation and analysis because it is highly efficient, is broadly applicable, and has powerful separation capability. The focus for development of this method is the identification of novel chiral stationary phases with superior recognition performance and good stability. The present article reviews recent progress in the development of new chiral stationary phases for high-performance liquid chromatography between January 2018 and June 2021. These newly reported chiral stationary phases are divided into three categories: small organic molecule-based (cyclodextrin and its derivatives, macrocyclic antibiotics, cinchona alkaloids, and other low molecular weight chiral molecules), macromolecule-based (cellulose and amylose derivatives, chitin and chitosan derivatives, and synthetic helical polymers) and chiral porous material-based (chiral metal-organic frameworks, chiral covalent organic frameworks, and chiral inorganic mesoporous silicas). Each type of chiral stationary phase is discussed in detail.

Understanding the Polymerization of Diphenylacetylenes with Tantalum(V) Chloride and Cocatalysts: Production of Cyclic Poly(diphenylacetylene)s by Low-Valent Tantalum Species Generated in Situ

A systematic investigation of the polymerization of representative diphenylacetylenes with TaCl₅ and cocatalysts suggested that low-valent Ta species, which are formed by in situ reduction of TaCl₅ by the cocatalysts, are involved in the polymerization and that the polymerization reaction proceeds by an insertion ring expansion mechanism via the formation of tantalacyclopentadiene intermediates, rather than the previously considered metathesis mechanism. This polymerization mechanism indicates the production of unprecedented cis-stereoregular cyclic poly(diphenylacetylene)s. Indeed, the possibilities of a cyclic structure and high cis-stereoregularity of the resulting polymers were reasonably supported by the results of their detailed atomic force microscopy (AFM) and NMR analyses, respectively.

Strategies for Preparation of Chiral Stationary Phases: Progress on Coating and Immobilization Methods

Enantioselective chromatography is one of the most used techniques for the separation and purification of enantiomers. The most important issue for a specific successful enantioseparation is the selection of the suitable chiral stationary phase (CSP). Different synthetic approaches have been applied for the preparation of CSPs, which embrace coating and immobilization methods. In addition to the classical and broadly applied coating and immobilization procedures, innovating strategies have been introduced recently. In this review, an overview of different methods for the preparation of coated and immobilized CSPs is described. Updated examples of CSPs associated with the various strategies are presented. Considering that after the preparation of a CSP its characterization is fundamental, the methods used for the characterization of all the described CSPs are emphasized.