Efficient enantiomeric analysis of primary amines and amino alcohols by high-performance liquid chromatography with precolumn derivatization using novel chiral SH-reagent N-(R)-mandelyl-(S)-cysteine.

Novel N-acylated-(S)-cysteine derivative-N-(R)-mandelyl-(S)-cysteine (R-NMC), containing additional chiral center, aromatic and polar alpha-substituents in contrast to the traditionally used enantiomerically pure thiols, has been demonstrated to be an efficient SH-reagent for enantiomeric HPLC analysis of primary nonfunctionalized amines and amino alcohols after precolumn derivatization with o-phthalaldehyde. The R-NMC-derived isoindoles as well as adducts formed using traditional SH-reagents had a characteristic absorption maximum at 340 nm with a molar absorbance 6000 M(-1) cm(-1), were stable during the HPLC-analysis and highly fluorescent allowing to detect 1 fmol of amino compound. Using diastereomeric R-NMC all tested amino alcohols were resolved effectively as well as nonfunctionalized amines, some of which were not resolved by a direct method on a chiral phase.