ABSTRACT
Noncovalent diastereomeric ion-molecule complexes are produced in the gas phase and are ideal for the study of chiral recognition in the absence of complicating solvent and counterion effects. This review article describes the state-of-art in this field with special emphasis on the most recent mass spectrometric studies of the structure, dynamics, and reactivity of diastereomeric ion/molecule aggregates.
Subject(s)
Gases/chemistry , Amides/chemistry , Calixarenes/chemistry , Phenylalanine/analogs & derivatives , Phenylalanine/chemistry , Stereoisomerism , Substrate Specificity , beta-Cyclodextrins/chemistryABSTRACT
Four cone resorc[4]arene octamethyl ethers (10, 11, ent-10, and ent-11) tetrafunctionalized at the feet with valyl-leucine [LL- (6); DD- (ent-6)] and leucyl-valine [LL- (9); DD- (ent-9)] methyl esters have been synthesized. These compounds, obtained by conjugation of macrocycle tetracarboxylic acid chlorides with the appropriate terminal amino groups of the above dipeptides, are N-linked peptidoresorc[4]arenes. We found that these macrocycles (M) are capable of recognizing the homologue dipeptides as guests (G), both in solution and in the gas phase, by forming relatively stable host-guest complexes ([M.G]), resistant to chromatographic purification but not to heating. Complexation phenomena between M and G in solution were investigated by NMR methods, including NMR DOSY experiments, for the detection of translational diffusion. Heteroassociation constants of 2030 and 186 M(-1) were obtained by the Foster-Fyfe method for the complexes [10.6] and [10.ent-6], respectively, the latter being comparable to the self-association constant of dipeptide itself. Conversely, the structural features of the proton-bound complexes [M.H.Gn]+ (n = 1, 2), generated in the gas phase by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), were investigated by collision-induced dissociation (CID) experiments. In both cases, the four N-linked peptidoresorc[4]arenes were shown to act as synthetic receptors and to recognize the homologue dipeptide by means of hydrogen bonds.
Subject(s)
Calixarenes/chemical synthesis , Peptides/chemistry , Resorcinols/chemistry , Carboxylic Acids/chemistry , Chlorides/chemistry , Hydrogen Bonding , Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy , Models, Chemical , Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray IonizationABSTRACT
Diastereomeric proton-bound [1(L)HA]+ complexes between selected amino acids (A=phenylglycine (Phg), tryptophan (Trp), tyrosine methyl ester (TyrOMe), threonine (Thr), and allothreonine (AThr)) and a chiral amido[4]resorcinarene receptor (1(L)) display a significant enantioselectivity when undergoing loss of the amino acid guest A by way of the enantiomers of 2-aminobutanes (B) in the gas phase. The enantioselectivity of the B-to-A displacement is ascribed to a combination of thermodynamic and kinetic factors related to the structure and the stability of the diastereomeric [1(L)HA]+ complexes and of the reaction transition states. The results of the present and previous studies allow classification of the [1(L)HA]+ complexes in three main categories wherein: i) guest A does not present any additional functionalities besides the amino acid one (alanine (Ala), Phg, and phenylalanine (Phe)); ii) guest A presents an additional alcohol function (serine (Ser), Thr, and AThr); and iii) guest A contains several additional functionalities on its aromatic ring (tyrosine (Tyr), TyrOMe, Trp, and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA)). Each category exhibits a specific enantioselectivity depending upon the predominant [1(L)HA]+ structures and the orientation of the 2-aminobutane reactant in the relevant adducts observed. The results may contribute to the understanding of the exceptional selectivity and catalytic properties of enzyme mimics towards unsolvated biomolecules.
