Combining magnetic resonance spectroscopies, mass spectrometry, and molecular dynamics: investigation of chiral recognition by 2,6-di-O-methyl-beta-cyclodextrin.

EPR spectroscopy has been employed to investigate the formation of complexes between heptakis-(2,6-O-dimethyl)-beta-cyclodextrin (DM-beta-CD) and different enantiomeric pairs of chiral nitroxides of general structure PhCH2NO.CH(R)R'. Accurate equilibrium measurements of the concentrations of free and included radicals afforded the binding constant values for these nitroxides. The relationship between the stereochemistry of the DM-beta-CD complexes and the thermodynamics of complexation was elucidated by correlating EPR data with 1H-1H NOE measurements carried out on the complexes between DM-beta-CD and the structurally related amine precursors of nitroxides. NOE data suggested that inclusion of the stereogenic center in the DM-beta-CD cavity occurs only when the R substituent linked to the chiral carbon contains an aromatic ring. For these types of complexes, molecular dynamics simulation indicated that the depth of penetration of the stereogenic center into the cyclodextrin cavity is determined by the nature of the second substituent (R') at the asymmetric carbon and is responsible for the observed chiral selectivity. Analysis of mass spectra showed that, for the presently investigated amines, electrostatic external adducts of CDs with protonated amines are detected by ESI-MS.