Three-State Switchable Chiral Stationary Phase Based on Helicity Control of an Optically Active Poly(phenylacetylene) Derivative by Using Metal Cations in the Solid State

An unprecedented three-state switchable chiral stationary phase (CSP) for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed using a helical poly(phenylacetylene) bearing a chiral (R)-alpha-methoxyphenylacetic acid residue as the pendant (poly-1). The left- and right-handed helical conformations were induced in poly-1-based CSP upon coordination with a catalytic amount of soluble sodium and cesium tetrakis[3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]borate salts (MBArF), respectively, which are soluble in the HPLC conditions [hexane-2-propanol (95:5, v/v)]. The switch between the two different helical states of poly-1 can be easily achieved by rinsing the poly-1-based CSP with MeOH and the subsequent addition of the proper MBArF salt. Using this dynamic helical CSP, we demonstrate how changes on the orientation of the secondary structure of a chiral polymer (right-handed, left-handed, and racemic helices) can alter and even invert the elution order of the enantiomers. This study was done without adding chiral additives or changing the mobile phase, which could produce changes on the retention times and make it more difficult to determine the role of the secondary structure during the chiral recognition process.