Evaluation of triproline and tri-α-methylproline chiral stationary phases: Retention and enantioseparation associated with hydrogen bonding

In this study, to demonstrate preparation strategy and improve understanding of chiral recognition mechanisms, triproline chiral stationary phases (CSPs) were evaluated with a series of analytes classified as having none, one, two or three H-bond donors. The average retention factors and mobile phase strength generally followed none < one < two < three hydrogen bond donors. The average solvent volume ratio (Hr stands for average hexane volume ratio in the mobile phase, Hpr for heptane, ACNr for acetonitrile, or H2Or for water) normalized chromatographic parameters calculated for di-, tri-, tetra-, penta-, hexa-, and decaproline CSPs facilitated the characterization of properties associated to the H-bond donor categorization. The Hr of triproline CSP were 1.0, 0.96 and 0.88 for analyte of none, one and two hydrogen bond donors with hexane/2-propanol mobile phase, respectively. The number of hydrogen bond donors in an analyte was found to be a primary factor in influencing the retention and enantioseparation in the normal-phase and polar organic modes. Two H-bond acceptor solvents methyl tert-butyl ether and ethyl acetate increased chiral separation on oligoproline CSPs for some compounds. The role of carbon-donor hydrogen bonding at the H atom of proline asymmetric center was implied through testing a tri-α-methylproline stationary phase. On oligoproline CSPs, three factors including adjacent hydrogen bond acceptor and carbon-donor, and a rigid proline residue chain were recognized as important for contributing to the broad enantioselectivity. The α hydrogen atom on chiral center of stationary phase was found to play a crucial role in enantiomeric discrimination.