Preparation of a novel cyclodextrin derivative of benzimido-β-cyclodextrin and its enantioseparation performance in HPLC.

A novel cyclodextrin (CD) derivative, mono-6-deoxy-benzimide-β-CD (MB-β-CD), in which a rigid substituent was linked to the narrow edge of the CD with a flexible H(2)C-N group, was successfully synthesized through the condensation of mono-6-deoxy-6-amino-β-cyclodextrin and benzaldehyde. To evaluate its enantioseparation abilities and investigate the role of the CD substituents and linkage in chiral recognition, MB-β-CD and mono-6-deoxyphenylimine-β-CD (MP-β-CD) with a rigid linkage were compared in the separation of 36 chiral compounds in a methanol/water mobile phase. The separation results showed that most of the analytes with rigid structures afforded better enantioresolutions on the MP-β-CD (with a rigid linkage) chiral stationary phase (CSP), while better enantioseparations for analytes with flexible structures and big steric hindrance were obtained on the MB-β-CD (with a flexible linkage) CSP. The former exhibited a specificity for the analyte structures, while the latter was more adaptable. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to further understand the discrimination process and the function of the CD side arm.