Abstract
A chiral stationary phase (CSP 1) based on (+)‐(18‐crown‐6)‐2,3,11,12‐tetracarboxylic acid was applied to the resolution of N‐(substituted benzoyl)‐α‐amino acid amides and esters. N‐(Substituted benzoyl)‐α‐amino acid amides were well resolved using a mixture of acetic acid‐triethylamine‐acetonitrile (0.01 : 0.05 : 100, v/v/v) as an optimum mobile phase while N‐(substituted benzoyl)‐α‐amino acid esters were not resolved at all. In contrast, both N‐(substituted benzoyl)‐α‐amino acid amides and esters were not resolved at all or resolved very poorly on another CSP (CSP 2), which lacks the two N–H hydrogens of the amide tethers of CSP 1. Among the substituents on the benzoyl group of analytes, the nitro group was the best for good resolution of analytes on CSP 1. From these results, the two N–H hydrogens of the amide tethers of CSP 1, the carbonyl oxygen of the amide group of analytes, and the nitro group on the benzoyl group of analytes were concluded to play significant roles in chiral recognition. In addition, various N‐(3,5‐dinitrobenzoyl)leucine amides with different lengths of N‐alkylamide chains were resolved on CSP 1 and N‐(3,5‐dinitrobenzoyl)leucine N‐propylamide was found to show the best chiral recognition in terms of the separation (α = 1.30) and the resolution factor (R~S~ = 3.17).