Enantiomeric separation of small chiral peptides by capillary electrophoresis

Abstract

Different approaches to the enantiomeric separation of sixteen derivatized di- and tripeptides, having one or two chiral centers, by means of capillary electrophoresis have been examined. The approaches were: direct separation using cyclodextrin (CD), vancomycin or teicoplanin and indirect separation. The highest plate numbers, 106 plates/m, were obtained with CD and the indirect method. The maximum resolution was 3 with CD and 11 when using the indirect method. The antibiotics gave somewhat lower plate numbers, 0.5·106 plates/m, but the resolution was high, up to 38. All examined peptides, except Leu–Ala, Leu–Leu and Arg–Gly, were fully resolved with the antibiotics as chiral selectors. The three remaining peptides were fully resolved when using the indirect method.