Spectroscopic investigations of solvent effect on chiral interactions

The spectrophotometric method was used to determine the mechanism of chiral interactions between a known chiral selector, tert-butyl carbamoylated quinine (t-BuCQN), and N-derivative amino acids (DNB-Leu). Results obtained on binding constants, free energy of binding (DeltaG), and difference in free energy of binding (DeltaDeltaG) values seem to suggest that there are three possible types of interactions between DNB-Leu and t-BuCQN: electrostatic interaction between the carboxylate group of the DNB-Leu and the ammonium group of the t-BuCQN, the donor-acceptor charge-transfer type of interaction between the (acceptor) aromatic group of the amino acid and the (donor) aromatic group of the t-BuCQN, and the hydrogen-bonding interaction between the amide group of the DNB-Leu and the carbonyl group of t-BuCQN. The strongest interaction will be observed if all of three interactions are in operation as in the case of DNB-Leu. The electrostatic interaction seems to play the dominant role in the interactions. While the charge-transfer interaction is relatively weaker, it seems, however, to be responsible for enantiomeric selectivity, namely, the closer the electron acceptor dinitrophenyl group is to the electron donor quinoline group, the higher is the enantiomeric selectivity. Specifically, in solvent with high polarity, both donor and acceptor are solvated by solvent molecules, thereby preventing them from being close. As a consequence, the interaction will be weaker and, hence, lower enantiomeric selectivity. Solvation will be less in less polar solvent which, in turn, leads to stronger interaction and higher enantiomeric selectivity.