Chiral separations using polymeric dipeptide surfactants: effect of number of chiral centers and steric factors.

Two polymeric dipeptide chiral surfactants (PDCSs), poly sodium N-undecanoyl isoleucyl-valinate (SUILV) with three chiral centers and poly sodium N-undecanoyl leucyl-valinate (SULV) with two chiral centers, have been evaluated and compared as chiral pseudo-stationary phases in electrokinetic capillary chromatography. The performance of these surfactants, in terms of enantioselectivity was examined using anionic, cationic and neutral analytes. Analyses of the data suggest that the enantiomeric resolutions of the analytes with these two PDCSs are dependent upon steric factors rather than number of stereogenic centers.