GC separation of amino acid enantiomers via derivatization with heptafluorobutyl chloroformate and Chirasil-L-Val column

Heptafluorobutyl chloroformate (HFBCF), a recently introduced derivatization reagent, was examined in enantioseparation of amino acids (AAs) by GC. Twenty proteinogenic AAs, plus ornithine, cystine and 4-fluorophenylalanine (internal standard) were treated with the reagent and separation properties of the derivatives were assessed on a Chirasil-Val capillary column. Nineteen AA enantiomers were efficiently separated in 43 min except proline, arginine and cystine. The HFBCF derivatives of the studied DL-AAs show improved separation over other chloroformate-based derivatives hitherto reported. A combination of the improved and faster separation with a simple derivatization protocol, involving an immediate one-step reaction-extraction in two-phase aqueous-organic medium, and low elution temperatures extend application of HFBCF to chiral AA analysis.