Effect of β-cyclodextrin on the reaction of α-amino acid anions with p-nitrophenyl acetate and p-nitrophenyl hexanoate

Abstract

The effects of β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) on the kinetics of the reaction of α-amino acid anions with p-nitrophenyl acetate (pNPA) and p-nitrophenyl hexanoate (pNPH) have been investigated. Pseudo-first-order rate constants obtained with various concentrations of nucleophile and β-CD, in aqueous solution at pH 9.88, were analyzed to yield rate constants for reaction of the nucleophiles with free ester (kN) and with ester bound to β-CD (kcN). For pNPA reacting with amino acids that bind weakly to β-CD, if at all, the ratio kcN/kN is very close to one, but for amino acids that bind appreciably to β-CD this ratio is greater than one (up to 3.5). Generally similar behaviour is observed for reactions with pNPH, but the rate ratios are smaller and all less than one. These findings are comparable to those obtained in this laboratory for the CD-mediated reactions of p-nitrophenyl alkanoate esters with other nucleophiles, including simple alkylamines that bind quite strongly to CDs, but they differ from those reported in an earlier study of the reaction of pNPA with amino acid anions (Can. J. Chem. 69, 1124 (1991)) where the data analysis suggested more substantial catalysis by cyclodextrins. Key words: amino acids, cyclodextrin, ester cleavage, kinetics, catalysis.