Highly efficient immobilization of Cinchona alkaloid derivatives to silica gel via click chemistry

Click chemistry was adapted to the immobilization of various Cinchona alkaloid derivatives bearing alkyne functionality onto azide-modified silica gel surfaces. The developed protocol employs very mild reaction conditions, with catalytic amounts of copper(I) iodide (1–5 mol %) in acetonitrile at room temperature, ensuring complete chemical integrity of the multi-functional ligands. The utility of this approach is demonstrated by the attachment of didehydroquinine tert-butylcarbamate to azido-grafted silica gel to produce an effective chiral stationary phase for HPLC enantiomer separation. A comparison of the chromatographic behavior of this click-immobilized phase with that of a commercially available thioether-linked chiral stationary phase revealed very similar performance characteristics for various model analytes. This observation suggests that the click-immobilization may offer an appealing alternative to the established silica gel-grafting technologies, allowing for the specific benefits of high and readily controllable loading levels under noninvasive conditions.