Alanine enantiomers

Figure 5.19 Formation of amino acids on ice surfaces irradiated in the laboratory (Nature Nature 416, 403-406 (28 March 2002) doi 10.1038/416403a-permission granted). Data were obtained from analysis of the room temperature residue of photoprocessed interstellar medium ice analogue taken after 6 M HCl hydrolysis and derivatization (ECEE derivatives, Varian-Chrompack Chirasil-L-Val capillary column 12 m x 0.25 mm inner diameter, layer thickness 0.12 pirn splitless injection, 1.5 ml min-1 constant flow of He carrier gas oven temperature programmed for 3 min at 70°C, 5°C min-1, and 17.5 min at 180°C detection of total ion current with GC-MSD system Agilent 6890/5973). The inset shows the determination of alanine enantiomers in the above sample (Chirasil-L-Val 25 m, single ion monitoring for Ala-ECEE base peak at 116 a.m.u.). DAP, diaminopentanoic acid DAH, diaminohexanoic acid a.m.u., atomic mass units.

So there are two alanine enantiomers. These are generally called L-alanine and D-alanine ... 

Pizzarello S. and Cronin J. R. (1998) Alanine enantiomers in the Murchison Meteorite. Nature 394, 236. 

Allender CJ, Brain KR, Heard CM (1997) Binding cross-reactivity of Boc-phenyl-alanine enantiomers on molecularly imprinted polymers. Chirality 9(3) 233-237... 

Thus, this enzyme eannot be used for amino aeid enantiomer purification because it oxidizes amino aeids. If the ojgrgen of the flavine ring is replaced, the enzyme may be able to separate amino aeid enantiomers. The tentative replacement of ojgrgen with fluorine yielded an enzyme that reeognized alanine enantiomers, and the MI energy differenee between the mutant and (R)- or (S)-alanine eomplexes was 3 kcal mol. The MI energy differenee... 

In an early example, commercial bacitracin ( ), a cyclic antibiotic (the structure of bacitracin F is given) was found to hydrolyze L-(P) about twice as fast as the d-enantiomer. No selectivity was found for the corresponding alanine enantiomers. Most likely an imidazole group from histidine is involved in the hydrolysis, but owing to the structural complexity of the peptide it is not possible to determine the origin of the enantioselectivity. 

The comprehensive chiral HPLC method development approach designed for brivanib alaninate enantiomers and diastereoisomers separation included [150] the following ... 

For example, for alanine-enantiomers, as per the earlier stated rules, the priority sequence assigned to different... 

Bhushan and Ali [21] used optically pure (-) brucine as a chiral selector they selected oL-amino acids which have isoelectric point below pH 7 and carried out separation on stationary phase where pH was 7.1-7.2 (during preparation of the plates they added the silica gel slurry 0.1 N NaOH). In such a case, amino acids existed as an anion and interacted with the basic brucine. Selectivity of the used system for some amino acids (isoleucine, leucine, and alanine) enantiomers was very high h/ F for D,L-serine was 12 and 50, respectively. 

RS- P-Aminoisobutyric acid (a-methyl-P-alanine) [10569-72-9] M 103.1, m 176-178 , 178-180 , 181-182 , R -(-)- isomer [144-90-1] m 183 , [a] -21 (c 0.43, HjO), pKes,(,) 3.7, pKEst(2) 10.2. Colorless prisms from hot H O, were powdered and dried in vacuo. The purity is checked by paper chromatography (Whatman 1) using ninhydrin spray to visualise the amino acid Rp values in 95% MeOH and n-PrOH/5N HCOOH (8 2) are 0.36 and 0.50 respectively. [Kupiecki and Coon Biochem Prep 7 20 7960 Pollack J Am Chem Soc 65 1335 7943.] The R-enantiomer, isolated from iris bulbs or human urine was crystd from H2O and sublimed in vacuo [Asen et al. J Biol Chem 234 343 7959]. The RS-hydrochloride was recrystd from EtOH/Et20 m 128-129 , 130° [Bbhme et al. Chem Ber92 1258, 1260, 1261 7959]. 

The improvements in resolution achieved in each deconvolution step are shown in Figure 3-3. While the initial library could only afford a modest separation of DNB-glutamic acid, the library with proline in position 4 also separated DNP derivatives of alanine and aspartic acid, and further improvement in both resolution and the number of separable racemates was observed for peptides with hydrophobic amino acid residues in position 3. However, the most dramatic improvement and best selectivity were found for c(Arg-Lys-Tyr-Pro-Tyr-(3-Ala) (Scheme 3-2a) with the tyrosine residue at position 5 with a resolution factor as high as 28 observed for the separation of DNP-glutamic acid enantiomers. 

Problem 9.3. Alanine, an amino acid found in proteins, is chiral. Draw the two enantiomers of ala- nine using the standard convention of solid, wedged, and dashed lines. 

Photodriven reactions of Fischer carbenes with alcohols produces esters, the expected product from nucleophilic addition to ketenes. Hydroxycarbene complexes, generated in situ by protonation of the corresponding ate complex, produced a-hydroxyesters in modest yield (Table 15) [103]. Ketals,presumably formed by thermal decomposition of the carbenes, were major by-products. The discovery that amides were readily converted to aminocarbene complexes [104] resulted in an efficient approach to a-amino acids by photodriven reaction of these aminocarbenes with alcohols (Table 16) [105,106]. a-Alkylation of the (methyl)(dibenzylamino)carbene complex followed by photolysis produced a range of racemic alanine derivatives (Eq. 26). With chiral oxazolidine carbene complexes optically active amino acid derivatives were available (Eq. 27). Since both enantiomers of the optically active chromium aminocarbene are equally available, both the natural S and unnatural R amino acid derivatives are equally... 

N-Benzoyl-Lalanine methyl ester is in turn about eight times more reactive than is its D enantiomer). The open-chain compounds may not bind to the enzyme in the same manner, however, as does the locked substrate. The conformation around the amido bond of the open-chain compounds, for example, can be transoid rather than cisoid (81). In addition, if equatorial 24 is considered to be the reactive conformer for both the Dand L enantiomers, and if the alanine methyl group is attracted to the hydrophobic aromatic binding subsite, then structures 34 and 38 would result. The L enantiomer of N-benzoyl-phenylalanine methyl ester 38 in this representation has approximately the same conformation as equatorial L-24. But attraction of the methyl of the D enantiomer to the location occupied by the methyl group of the L enantiomer causes the carbomethoxy group to move from the position it occupies in D-24. 

A simple and rapid method of separating optical isomers of amino acids on a reversed-phase plate, without using impregnated plates or a chiral mobile phase, was described by Nagata et al. [27]. Amino acids were derivatized with /-fluoro-2,4-dinitrophenyl-5-L-alanine amide (FDAA or Marfey s reagent). Each FDAA amino acid can be separated from the others by two-dimensional elution. Separation of L- and D-serine was achieved with 30% of acetonitrile solvent. The enantiomers of threonine, proline, and alanine were separated with 35% of acetonitrile solvent and those of methionine, valine, phenylalanine, and leucine with 40% of acetonitrile solvent. The spots were scraped off the plate after the... 

Essentially the same amino acids, and nearly equal quantities of D and L enantiomers, were detected in the Murray meteorite, another type II carbonaceous chondrite [6]. Recent expeditions to Antarctica have returned with a large number of meteorites, many of which are carbonaceous chondrites. These may have been protected from terrestrial contamination by the pristine Antarctic ice. Careful analysis of two of these, the Yamato (74662) and the Allan Hills (77306), both type II carbonaceous chondrites, by ion exchange chromatography, gas chromatography, and GC/MS, have detected a wide variety of both protein and non-protein amino acids in approximately equal D and L abundances [9,10]. Fifteen amino acids were detected in the Yamato meteorite and twenty in the Allan Hills, the most abundant being glycine and alanine. The amino acid content of the Yamato meteorite is comparable with that of the Murchison and Murray, but the Allan Hills contains 1/5 to 1/10 that quantity. Unlike earlier meteorites from other locations, the quantities of amino acids in the exterior and interior portions of the Yamato and Allan Hills meteorites are almost identical [9,10]. Thus, these samples may have been preserved without contamination since their fall in the blue ice of Antarctica, which js 250,000 years old in the region of collection. 

Using trimethylsilyl triflate, a one-pot reaction of acetoxyallylation and O-silylation of nitrones, gave silylated hydroxylamines (673). Enantiomers of the naturally occurring alkaloid dihydropinidine, potential antifeedants against the pine weevil Hylobius abietis, were prepared by diastereoselective, dimethylzinc mediated addition of pinacolyl 2-propenylboronate to (/ )- and to (S )-2-methyl tetrahydropyridine-A-oxide, obtained from D-alanine and L-alanine, respectively (Scheme 2.190) (674). 

---