Diastereomers chemical separation

A common chemical means of resolving organic compounds is to treat the racemic mixture with a chiral resolving agent that converts the mixture of enantiomers into a pair of diastereomers. The diastereomers are separated based on differences in their physical properties each diastereomer is then converted to a pure stereoisomer, uncontaminated by its enantiomer. 

The separation of enantiomers is called resolution. It is achieved by the reaction of the racemate with the pure enantiomer of a chiral compound to yield separable diastereomers. Chemical removal of the chiral reagent frees both enantiomers of the original racemate. Another way of separating enantiomers is by chiral chromatography on an optically active support. 

Resolution of racemates through the diastereomer formation and selective crystallization is a common strategy for chemical separation of enantiomers from racemic mixtures employing chiral resolving agents. The principle of a... 

Whenever possible, the chemical reactions involved in the fonnation of diastereomers and their- conversion to separate enantiomers are simple acid-base reactions. For example, naturally occurring (5)-(—)-malic acid is often used to resolve fflnines. One such amine that has been resolved in this way is 1-phenylethylarnine. Amines are bases, and malic acid is an acid. Proton transfer from (5)-(—)-malic acid to a racemic mixture of (/ )- and (5)-1-phenylethylarnine gives a mixture of diastereorneric salts. 

This method is widely used for the resolution of chiral amines and carboxylic acids. Analogous methods based on the fonnation and separation of diastereomers have been developed for other functional groups the precise approach depends on the kind of chemical reactivity associated with the functional groups present in the molecule. 

Besides simple alkyl-substituted sulfoxides, (a-chloroalkyl)sulfoxides have been used as reagents for diastereoselective addition reactions. Thus, a synthesis of enantiomerically pure 2-hydroxy carboxylates is based on the addition of (-)-l-[(l-chlorobutyl)sulfinyl]-4-methyl-benzene (10) to aldehydes433. The sulfoxide, optically pure with respect to the sulfoxide chirality but a mixture of diastereomers with respect to the a-sulfinyl carbon, can be readily deprotonated at — 55 °C. Subsequent addition to aldehydes afforded a mixture of the diastereomers 11A and 11B. Although the diastereoselectivity of the addition reaction is very low, the diastereomers are easily separated by flash chromatography. Thermal elimination of the sulfinyl group in refluxing xylene cleanly afforded the vinyl chlorides 12 A/12B in high chemical yield as a mixture of E- and Z-isomers. After ozonolysis in ethanol, followed by reductive workup, enantiomerically pure ethyl a-hydroxycarboxylates were obtained. 

Molecules which exhibit optical activity are molecules which have a handedness in their structure. They are chiral . Chemists often have reasons to obtain chemical pure aliquots of particular molecules. Since the chirality of molecules can influence biological effect in pharmaceuticals, the chiral purity of a drug substance can pose a challenge both in terms of obtaining the molecules and in assaying the chiral purity by instrumental methods. While diastereomers can have different physical properties including solubility, enantiomers have the same physical properties and the same chemical composition. How then to separate optically active molecules ... 

The first example of the deliberate separation of optically active molecules is appropriate as an example of physical separation in the clearest sense of the term. The molecules are referred to as optically active because polarized light interacts differently with right- and left-handed molecules. In the case of simple diastereomers the RR and SS forms are enantiomers while the RS and SR forms are not. The separation of the latter and former was first done under a microscope using crossed polarizers and the crystals which were seen were separated from those that caused little or no rotation of plane-polarized light by hand using tweezers. A truly physical separation of chemical species using a physical property of chemical origin ... 

Based on the theory, the separation of enantiomers requires a chiral additive to the CE separation buffer, while diastereomers can also be separated without the chiral selector. The majority of chiral CE separations are based on simple or chemically modified cyclodextrins. However, also other additives such as chiral crown ethers, linear oligo- and polysaccharides, macrocyclic antibiotics, chiral calixarenes, chiral ion-pairing agents, and chiral surfactants can be used. Eew non-chiral separation examples for the separation of diastereomers can be found. 

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