Teicoplanin-based enantiomeric separations in CZE using a partial filling technique

Baseline separation of the enantiomers of a number of negatively charged am ino and mandelic acid derivatives was achieved in less than 10 min by capil lary electrophoresis in a polyacrylamide coated capillary using the "partia l filling method" (PFM) with submillimolar concentration of Teicoplanin (TE ) as the chiral selector. The influence of the charge and concentration of TE, electrolyte solution composition and pH, on the enantioresolution was e xamined. Further proofs were brought to corroborate the hypothesis that the enantio-recognition takes place at the D-Ala-D-Ala binding site, whose blo ckade is responsible for the antibacterial activity of glycopeptide antibio tics. While the dependence of the chiral recognition capabilities of TE on electrolyte solution composition and pH could limit its applicability, impr oved sensitivity, reduction of TE wall adsorption, resulting in a good effi ciency, and high cost reduction, due to the very small amount of chiral sel ector required, were shown as advantages of the PFM adopted in this study.