Direct High-Performance Liquid Chromatographic Enantioseparation of β-Methyl-Substituted Unusual Amino Acids on a Quinine-Derived Chiral Anion-Exchange Stationary Phase

A quinine-derived chiral anion-exchange stationary phase was used for the direct high-performance liquid chromatographic separation of the enantiomers of the N-protected unusual β-substituted α-amino acids, β-methylphenylalanine, β-methyltyrosine, β-methyltryptophan, and β-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid. The readily prepared 2,4-dinitrophenyl and tert-butyloxycarbonyl derivatives were well separated, and in most cases the separation of all four stereoisomers of these β-methyl-α-amino acids could be obtained in one chromatographic run. The elution sequences of the enantiomers of the different derivatives were determined and revealed a dependence on the type of the N-protecting group. In this context, the effects of different protecting groups (acetyl, tert-butyloxycarbonyl, benzoyl, 3,5-dinitrobenzoyl, benzyloxycarbonyl, 3,5-dinitrobenzyloxycarbonyl, 2,4-dinitrophenyl, and 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl) on the chromatographic behavior were investigated.