Polydopamine-Assisted Rapid One-Step Immobilization of L-Arginine in Capillary as Immobilized Chiral Ligands for Enantioseparation of Dansyl Amino Acids by Chiral Ligand Exchange Capillary Electrochromatography

Herein, a novel L-arginine (L-Arg)-modified polydopamine (PDA)-coated capillary (PDA/L-Arg@capillary) was firstly fabricated via the basic amino-acid-induced PDA co-deposition strategy and employed to constitute a new chiral ligand exchange capillary electrochromatography (CLE-CEC) method for the high-performance enantioseparation of D,L-amino acids (D,L-AAs) with L-Arg as the immobilized chiral ligand coordinating with the central metal ion Zn(II) as running buffer. Assisted by hydrothermal treatment, the robust immobilization of L-Arg on the capillary inner wall could be facilely achieved within 1 h, prominently improving the synthesis efficiency and simplifying the preparation procedure. The successful preparation of PDA/L-Arg coatings in the capillary was systematically characterized and confirmed using several methods. In comparison with bare and PDA-functionalized capillaries, the enantioseparation capability of the presented CLE-CEC system was significantly enhanced. Eight D,L-AAs were completely separated and three pairs were partially separated under the optimal conditions. The prepared PDA/L-Arg@capillary showed good repeatability and stability. The potential mechanism of the greatly enhanced enantioseparation performance obtained by PDA/L-Arg@capillary was also explored. Moreover, the proposed method was further utilized for studying the enzyme kinetics of L-glutamic dehydrogenase, exhibiting its promising prospects in enzyme assays and other related applications.

Research progress of chiral ligand exchange stationary phases in the enantiomer resolution

The structure of chiral drugs contains at least one asymmetric center. When the enantiomers act on the human body, they are recognized by chiral receptors and enzymes in vivo, which will show different physiological effects and even adverse reactions. Therefore, it is very important for the development of chiral pharmacy to obtain chiral enantiomers with a single configuration by racemic resolution. Some general impurities will be introduced in the production of chiral drugs, thus the detection of impurities is also a crucial step in the quality control of chiral medicines. The chiral ligand exchange stationary phase has a strong recognition effect on enantiomer analytes with multiple chelating sites, and is very suitable for the separation and control of biological samples such as amino acids. In this work, the development of chiral ligand exchange stationary phases in enantiomeric resolution is reviewed, which is expected to provide a basis for the quality control of complex chiral drug components.