Enantioseparation of underivatized amino acids by capillary electrophoresis using copper(II)-(S)-3aminopyrrolidine-L-histidine ternary complex as the chiral selector

The enantiomeric ternary complex formed by Cu(II), (S)-3-aminopyrrolydine, and L-histidine is shown to be an effective chiral selector for separation of underivatized amino acid enantiomers by capillary electrophoresis (CE). None of the constituent binary complexes, i.e. Cu(II)-(S)-3-aminopyrrolidine and Cu(II)-L-histidine, exhibit the same stereoselectivity. Further, the chiral separation is significantly enhanced in the presence of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), a linear polymer, in the CE running buffer.