IIT Guwahati & RIKEN-Japan Collaborate

IIT Guwahati & RIKEN-Japan Collaborate For
New Study On Chiral Molecules

Since many biochemically active chemicals are found as mixtures of two enantiomers, one of which may be beneficial and the other, toxic, the separation of enantiomers is crucial in the biomedical field.

A simple method to separate chiral enantiomers – chemicals that have the same molecular formula but a different three-dimensional arrangement of the constituent molecular segments has been developed by the researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati and RIKEN, Wakoshi Campus, Japan.

From the Department of Chemistry, IIT Guwahati, Prof AS Achalkumar, and from RIKEN, Wakoshi Campus, Japan, Prof Yasuhiro Ishida led the group of researchers in this study. In the journal, Nature Communications, they published their path-breaking work. The paper has been co-authored by research scholars Noriko Horimoto, Kuniyo Yamada, and Dr. Krishnachary Salikolimi, and Prof Ishida, Prof Achalkumar, Dr. Vakayil Praveen, Senior Scientist, CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology.

By reminding us of a tragic event that shook the world in the 1960s, Prof Achalkumar explains the importance of this work, as in the 1960s, when a drug called ‘thalidomide’ for morning-sickness was prescribed to the pregnant mother, a large number of babies

were born with severe deformities. The researcher says, “A result of the consumption of two enantiomers without separation was the problem. Among the two, one of the isomers was the drug, while the other was toxic.”

It is very difficult to separate enantiomers or to synthesize specifically one without being contaminated from the other enantiomer as the chemical properties of enantiomers are similar. The lead researcher from IIT Guwahati said, “Man is still trying to master the art of enantioselective synthesis, though nature is the master in the exclusive production of enantiomerically pure amino acids and sugars.” Chromatography is the current method to separate enantiomers and it requires environmentally harmful solvents, is energy-intensive, and a slow process.

With the use of helical supramolecular polymers, formed by the salt formation of aromatic carboxylic acid and chiral amino alcohols, a novel approach to separate enantiomers has been developed by the researchers from IIT Guwahati and RIKEN. The researchers could resolve racemic mixtures into materials rich in one isomer in this simple one-pot process. The interaction sites in the supramolecular polymer help in the recognition of chiral guests and in the connection of the monomers. Salts undergo copolymerization and became soluble when two salts with the same chirality are mixed, while those with opposite chirality precipitate as they do not form a copolymer. The separation of the precipitated compound can be easily carried out. The present system has huge commercial potential as it can be used for the enantioseparation of the abundant class of chiral amino alcohols.

Prof Ishida said that the enantio-separation ability of supramolecular polymers has never been investigated so far although many supramolecular polymers are known. The price of chiral active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and medical treatment could be reduced with the development of such a process. Additionally, even to other classes of chiral molecules, such a process can be extended.

Source
IIT Guwahati & RIKEN-Japan Collaborate For Study On Chiral Molecules

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