KeywordsOptical resolution, y-cyclodextrin,
zinc(II), capillary zone electrophoresis, dansyl-D,L-amino acidRecently, a number of methods have been reported for the optical resolution of enantiomeric compounds by free solution capillary electrophoresis (CE)1'2, such as capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and electrokinetic chromatography (EKC). Of the variety of chiral selectors, cyclodextrins (CDs) are used most extensively. For example, for the optical resolution of dansyl(DNS)-D,L-amino acids by CE with CDs, three separation modes have been reported: CZE with CDs (CD/CZE)3'4, CD modified micellar EKC (MEKC)S and EKC using charged CDs.6 However, when optical resolution of DNS-D,L-amino acids was carried out by CZE in the presence of native CDs such as a-, /3-or y-CD, using bare fused-silica capillary, Chiral separation of DNS-D,Lphenylalanine, DNS-D,L-serine and DNS-D,L-tryptophan has not been achieved3'4, except for the chiral separation of DNS-D,L-serine with /3-CD.In some cases, the addition of metal ions to electrolyte solutions is known to modify effectively the selectivity of CZE of derivatized reducing carbohydrates' and MEKC of nucleic acid bases, nucleosides and oligonucleotides.8 Also, DNS-D,L-amino acids have been separated by EKC in the presence of Cu(II) complexes of L-histidine9 and aspartame.10 Since CDs are able to form Cu(II) complexes11,12, the addition of metal ions in a CD/CZE system may result in the enhancement of enantioselectivity, either by changing the conformation of CDs or by adding extra interaction of enantiomers with metal ions. However, no chiral separation method by CD/CZE in the presence of metal ions has been reported so far.In this study, we therefore examined the effect of metal ions on the enantioselective separation of DNS-D,Lamino acids by CD/CZE to obtain better resolution.
ExperimentalChemicals DNS-D,L-amino acids and DNS-L-amino acids [leucine (Leu), methionine (Met), phenylalanine (Phe), serine (Ser), threonine (Thr), tryptophan (Trp) and valine (Val)] used were purchased from Sigma (St. Louis, MO, USA) and employed as 1 mM solutions in 5 mM acetic acid. a-, /3-and y-CDs were obtained from Tokyo Kasei (Tokyo, Japan). Calcium(II) sulfate dihydrate, cobalt(II) sulfate heptahydrate, magnesium(II) sulfate, sodium sulfate and zinc(II) sulfate heptahydrate were purchased from Kanto Chemical (Tokyo, Japan). The electrolyte solutions used were prepared by dissolving 5 mM each of CDs and metal sulfates in 5 mM ammonium acetate or 5 mM acetic acid. All reagents used were of analytical-reagent grade. The water used was purified on a Milli RO-Milli Q system (Millipore, Bedford, MA, USA).
Apparatus for CEThe CE experiments were performed with a JASCO CE-800 system (JASCO, Tokyo, Japan). DNS derivatives were monitored with a JASCO 870 UV detector at 250 nm. All experiments were performed at ambient temperature in a constant-voltage mode at 25 kV. Unmodified fused-silica capillaries (70 cmX50 µm i.d.; 50 cm from inlet to detector) were used for the separation. Samples were electric...