RESUMEN
Chiral discrimination studies using (+)-(18-crown-6)-2,3,11,12-tetracarboxylic acid (18-C-6-TA) as a chiral selector were performed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and NMR spectroscopy. The enantiomers of alanine (Ala) or alanine methyl ester (Ala-ME) were well separated on the chiral stationary phases (CSPs) derived from (+)-18-C-6-TA by HPLC. The chiral selector, (+)-18-C-6-TA, used in the CSP was also applied for the chiral discrimination of the Ala and Ala-ME enantiomers, and it discriminated these enantiomers successfully by NMR spectroscopy. The chemical shift differences (Delta Delta delta) of the alpha-proton of these enantiomers in the presence of an equimolecular solution of 18-C-6-TA were observed to be 0.10 ppm for Ala in methanol-d4 containing 10 mM H2SO4 and 0.11 ppm for Ala-ME in methanol-d4. The observed NMR results agreed with the chromatographic data on the (+)-18-C-6-TA-derived CSP by HPLC in terms of both the elution order and solvents effects.