Hydroxypyridyl Imines: Enhancing Chromatographic Separation and Stereochemical Analysis of Chiral Amines via Circular Dichroism

Imine-bond formation between chiral amines and commercially available 3-hydroxypyridine-2-carboxaldehyde (HCA) was exploited for rapid determination of stereochemical composition. Chiral supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) screening of the derivatized imine compounds led to the elucidation of multiple combinations of mobile and stationary phases that gave resolution of all members of a series of chiral amines. The first eluting enantiomer was generally the derivative of the (R)-amine enantiomer across the series that was studied, indicating that the imine formed from the (S)-amine has more favorable interaction with the chiral stationary phase of the column. These conditions were then applied to more challenging compounds, namely amino alcohols and diastereomers possessing more than one stereocenter. The approach was utilized to monitor stereoselective biocatalytic transamination and assign the absolute configuration of the enantiomeric products. Finally, hydrolysis of the imine bond of the derivative was shown to generate enantiopure amine starting materials without racemization. This further highlights the value of this approach for creating readily reversed derivatives that enhance chromatographic separation and aid in the determination of absolute configuration.