Collaborative Research: RUI: Toward Structure-Based Models of Chiral Recognition by Amino Acid Based Macromolecular Assemblies

该项目由化学部的化学测量和成像(CMI)计划资助。德克萨斯农工大学的布里奥特和比利奥特-科珀斯·克里斯蒂教授、迦太基学院的凯文·莫里斯教授以及霍华德大学的方雅音教授组成了一个多机构合作关系。这项工作的重点是调查和阐明负责分子自组装的因素，以及这些因素如何影响自组装分子结构相互作用和识别其他生物重要分子的能力。各种实验和计算方法被用来建立定量结构对映选择性保留关系(QSERR)。然后，QSERR被用来评估和比较不同手性选择剂用于毛细管电泳色谱分离的有效性。这三所院校中有两所主要是本科院校，目前没有化学硕士课程。因此，这项研究将在这两所学校专门由本科生进行。其中之一也是西班牙裔服务机构。参与这项研究的第三所大学是HBCU。这项研究为私人投资机构提供了一种工具，用于招募、培训和指导来自代表性不足和经济困难背景的学生，并鼓励这些学生攻读理科学士学位后学位。这项拟议的研究是正在进行的长期多方面研究的一部分，重点是调查和阐明负责(A)自组装、(B)功能、(C)更高有序结构和(D)基于氨基酸的大分子组件(AABMA)的分子识别的因素。特别是，研究将重点考察pH值、离子强度、表面活性剂浓度和反离子类型对上述因素的影响。这些AABMA在本研究中被用作毛细管电泳手性假固定相。因此，这些研究的主要焦点是深入了解影响这类手性选择剂手性识别的因素。对这些影响因素的深入了解将有助于手性分离的加强和拟固定相的改进。了解这种相互作用不仅对手性识别介质的开发具有重要意义，而且对手性识别分离条件的优化也具有重要意义。此外，由于所研究的体系的对映体识别是氨基酸，从这些研究中获得的知识将有可能转移到其他基于氨基酸的体系，如蛋白质。

This project is funded by the Chemical Measurement and Imaging (CMI) program in the Division of Chemistry. Professors Billiot and Billiot of Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi, Kevin Morris of Carthage College, and Yayin Fang of Howard University form a multi-institutional collaboration. The work focuses on the investigation and elucidation of the factors responsible for molecular self-assembly, and how these factors affect the ability of the self-assembled molecular structures to interact and recognize other molecules of biological importance. A variety of experimental and computational methods are used to developed Quantitative Structure Enantioselective Retention Relationships (QSERR). QSERR is then used to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of different chiral selectors for capillary electrophoretic separations. Two of the three institutions are primarily undergraduate institutions that currently do not have a master's program in chemistry. Thus, the research will be conducted at these two schools exclusively by undergraduate students. One of these is also a Hispanic Serving Institution. The third university involved in the research is an HBCU. The research serves as a tool for the PIs to recruit, train, and mentor students from underrepresented and economically challenged backgrounds and to encourage these students to pursue post baccalaureate degrees in science. The proposed research is part of an ongoing, long-term multi-faceted study focusing on investigating and elucidating the factors responsible for (a) self-assembly, (b) function, (c) higher ordered structure and (d) molecular recognition of amino acid based macromolecular assemblies (AABMAs). In particular, the research will focus on examining the effects that pH, ionic strength, surfactant concentration, and type of counter-ion have on the factors mentioned above. These AABMAs are being utilized in this study as chiral pseudostationary phases in capillary electrophoresis. Thus, the major focus of these studies is to gain insights into the factors responsible for chiral recognition with this class of chiral selector. A deeper understanding of these factors will lead to enhanced chiral separations and improved pseudostationary phases. Understanding such interactions is not only important in the development of chiral recognition media but also in the optimization of the separation conditions. In addition, since enantiorecognition of the systems under study are amino acids, the knowledge gained from these studies will be potentially transferable to other amino acid based systems such as proteins.