Designated as CPC-7458-HCl in controlled substance inventories, the compound [(2R,3R,4S,5R,6R)-6-[2-Chloro-1-[[(2S,4R)-1-Methyl-4-Propyl-Pyrrolidine-2-Carbonyl]Amino]Propyl]-4,5-Dihydroxy-2-Methylsulfanyl-Tetrahydropyran-3-Yl] Hexadecanoate Hydrochloride is a fully synthetic, polyfunctional tetrahydropyran derivative configured as a quaternary ammonium hydrochloride salt. Its architecture fuses a methylsulfanyl-substituted pyranose core esterified at the 3-position with hexadecanoic acid, and an N-acylated (S)-2-chloro-1-aminopropyl side chain originating from (2S,4R)-1-methyl-4-propylpyrrolidine-2-carboxylic acid. The stereochemical array—2R,3R,4S,5R,6R on the ring and 2S,4R on the pyrrolidine—is retained during synthesis via a low-temperature Schotten-Baumann coupling performed at −15 °C to suppress epimerization at the anomeric center. A hydrochloride counterion imparts crystallinity and facilitates handling under ambient humidity conditions where the free amine would rapidly absorb ≥2.5 wt% water within 30 min at 55% RH (monitored by dynamic vapour sorption, DVS-Intrinsic, SMS Ltd.).
This product is supplied as a single stereoisomer reference standard with an enantiomeric excess of ≥99.0% as quantified by chiral supercritical fluid chromatography on a Daicel Chiralpak IA-3 column using a CO2/methanol gradient ( 70:30 to 50:50 over 12 min). Residual solvent analysis via headspace GC-FID (USP <467> Method IV) confirms dichloromethane below 60 ppm and ethyl acetate below 100 ppm. Elemental composition determined on a Thermo FlashSmart CHNS/O analyzer falls within ±0.4% of theoretical values for C38H69Cl2N2O6S (C 59.74%, H 9.10%, N 3.67%). The material is appropriate for use as a chromatographic system suitability marker or as a precursor for lipophilic-chiral micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) pseudostationary phases where the long-chain ester modifies electrophoretic mobility.
What Distinguishes This Hydrochloride from the Free Base in Non-Aqueous Catalytic Cycles?
Protonation of the pyrrolidine nitrogen alters the electronic environment of the amide carbonyl and shifts the preferred conformation of the propyl side chain. In the free base, the nitrogen lone pair participates in intramolecular hydrogen bonding with the adjacent 4,5-diol, lowering the amide I band to 1638 cm⁻¹ (FTIR, neat film). Upon salt formation, this band shifts to 1665 cm⁻¹, consistent with a free carbonyl. Concomitantly, 15N NMR (DMSO‑d₆, 50.68 MHz) shows a downfield shift of the pyrrolidine nitrogen from δ 36.2 ppm (free base) to δ 42.7 ppm, a diagnostic marker for quaternary ammonium formation. These differences have consequences when the compound is deployed as a chiral ion-pair catalyst in asymmetric Michael additions. With the hydrochloride, catalyst activation requires pre-treatment with 1.05 eq of Cs2CO3 in acetonitrile to deprotonate the salt in situ; failure to perform this step yields consistently lower enantioselectivities— ≤ 48% ee versus 82% ee (HPLC, Chiralcel OD‑H, hexane/2-propanol 90:10) for the model reaction of diethyl malonate to β-nitrostyrene. The free base, while superior in such anhydrous asymmetric organocatalysis, exhibits a shelf-life of less than 6 months at −20 °C under argon; the hydrochloride remains chemically intact beyond 24 months under identical storage conditions, as tracked by quarterly HPLC purity checks.
Hygroscopicity and Pre-Formulation Drying Protocols
The crystalline hydrochloride contains non-stoichiometric lattice water that influences gravimetric dispensing for moisture-sensitive downstream reactions. Karl Fischer coulometry (Metrohm 851 Titrando) on freshly opened vials stored at 2–8 °C typically shows water content between 0.8% and 1.4% w/w. For anhydrous applications—such as the preparation of Grignard-sensitive intermediates or the synthesis of the corresponding alkyl cobalt(III) complexes—a static drying procedure over P2O5 at 50 °C and 0.1 mbar for 16 h reduces moisture to below 0.05%. Simultaneous thermal analysis (STA, Netzsch Jupiter F3) reveals that bound water begins to evolve at 72 °C; heating above 105 °C induces partial hydrolysis of the hexadecanoate ester, evidenced by a mass loss inflection corresponding to palmitic acid release and an accompanying endotherm at 112 °C. Therefore, vacuum drying must remain strictly within the thermal window of 45–65 °C. Resealable septum-capped vials are recommended after drying; exposure of anhydrous material to ambient air (22 °C, 50% RH) re-equilibrates to 0.6% moisture within 10 min.
In reaction media where water is tolerated—such as phase-transfer alkylations under aqueous NaOH/dichloromethane biphasic conditions—the as-received material may be used directly. Partition coefficient measurements (shake-flask method, octanol/water, UV detection at 210 nm) give log P = 5.8 ± 0.2 for the hydrochloride, indicating strong preference for the organic layer. This value decreases to approximately 2.1 upon saponification of the ester, illustrating the role of the palmitoyl chain in anchoring the catalyst at the interface.
A Critical Processing Limit in Emulsion Polymerization Templates
During trials employing CPC-7458-HCl as a co-stabilizer in miniemulsion polymerizations of styrene, mechanical shear generated by a Branson 450 digital sonifier (70% amplitude, ¼″ microtip) caused progressive cleavage of the glycosidic C–S bond when irradiation time exceeded 120 s. Headspace GC-MS identified methanethiol generation at 0.3 ppm after 150 s of sonication; the resulting thiol acted as a chain-transfer agent, reducing polystyrene number-average molecular weight (Mn) from 210 kDa to 97 kDa (GPC, THF, RI detection, polystyrene standards). This instability is not observed with the corresponding O-methyl glycoside analogue lacking the methylsulfanyl group, confirming the C–S bond as the locus of degradation. The operational boundary for ultrasonic processing has been set at ≤ 90 s cumulative sonication with a 30 s inter-pulse cooling period when using this hydrochloride as a reactive surfactant in 2,2′-azobis(2-methylpropionitrile)-initiated systems. This limitation does not apply under magnetic stirring or rotor-stator shearing (Ultra-Turrax T18, 24,000 rpm), where no thiol evolution is detected after 20 min of dispersion.
Comparative Binding to Hydroxyapatite for Chromatographic Resolution
A distinct application exploits the vicinal diol and the protonated amine to chelate calcium ions on hydroxyapatite (HA) columns (Bio-Rad CHT Type I, 40 µm). The hydrochloride elutes at 145 mM sodium phosphate (pH 6.8) in a linear gradient, while the corresponding laurate ester (C12) elutes at 90 mM and the stearate ester (C18) at 195 mM. This linear relationship between acyl chain length and elution ionic strength (R² = 0.991) enables method development for separation of homologous series. The chloride counterion form is more tightly retained than the acetate salt prepared in situ; switching to acetate buffer lowers the elution phosphate concentration by approximately 30 mM for the same chain length, attributable to the higher affinity of acetate for HA calcium sites. The table below summarizes retention data for three chain-length variants under identical gradient conditions.
| Acyl Chain | Salt Form | Elution [NaPO₄] (mM) | Peak Width at Half Height (mL) |
|---|---|---|---|
| C12 (Laurate) | HCl | 90 | 2.1 |
| C16 (Palmitate) | HCl | 145 | 2.4 |
| C18 (Stearate) | HCl | 195 | 2.8 |
| C16 | Acetate (pre-column exchange) | 112 | 2.2 |
In preparative mode, loading capacities of 12 mg per mL of packed bed were achieved without loss of baseline resolution between C16 and C18 species, provided the sample was dissolved in 10 mM sodium phosphate containing 5% v/v ethanol to prevent aggregate formation. Direct aqueous loading often yields broad, tailing peaks due to the formation of micellar aggregates with a critical micelle concentration (CMC) measured at 0.18 mM in deionized water (Wilhelmy plate, Krüss K100).
When evaluated as a surrogate for lipophilic drug substances in forced degradation studies of lipid nanoparticle (LNP) formulations, the hydrochloride undergoes acid-catalyzed ester cleavage with first-order kinetics at pH 1.2 (0.1 N HCl, 37 °C, t90 = 4.2 h). At pH 4.5 (acetate buffer), less than 2% hydrolysis is observed after 48 h. This pH-dependent stability profile closely mirrors that of glyceryl palmitate esters used in LNP cores and allows the compound to serve as a non-radiolabeled marker for esterase activity assays. The released aglycone fragment, [(2R,3R,4S,5R,6R)-6-(2-chloro-1-aminopropyl)-4,5-dihydroxy-2-methylsulfanyl-tetrahydropyran-3-ol], is quantified via LC-MS/MS (ESI+, MRM m/z 312.1 → 145.0) with a limit of detection of 0.05 ng/mL in plasma matrix. Cross-validation against the laurate analogue confirmed that the C16 chain does not interfere with the MRM transition, unlike the C18 chain which produces an isobaric fragment at m/z 145.0 from stearate in-source fragmentation, requiring chromatographic resolution with a retention time shift of 0.7 min.A Table of Identity Specifications and Lot-Release Criteria
| Parameter | Method | Acceptance Criterion |
|---|---|---|
| Appearance | Visual (white to off-white crystalline powder) | Conforms |
| Purity (HPLC-UV, 210 nm) | Agilent ZORBAX Eclipse Plus C8, 150 × 4.6 mm, 5 µm; ACN/0.1% TFA (60:40 to 95:5 in 20 min) | ≥ 98.0% area |
| Enantiomeric excess | SFC (Chiralpak IA-3, 4.6 × 100 mm, 3 µm) | ≥ 99.0% |
| Water content | Karl Fischer (coulometric) | ≤ 1.5% |
| Chloride content (ionic) | Argentometric titration (0.01 N AgNO₃, potentiometric) | 4.6–5.0% w/w |
| Residual DCM | HS-GC-FID (USP <467>) | ≤ 100 ppm |
| Loss on drying (60 °C, vacuum, 4 h) | USP <731> | ≤ 2.0% |
| Specific rotation [α]25D | Automatic polarimeter (c = 1.0, MeOH) | +28° to +32° |
In membrane protein crystallization trials, the compound has been used at 2–5 mM as an additive to increase the size of monoolein/water cubic phase windows from 7.2–9.8 nm to 9.0–12.5 nm (small-angle X-ray scattering, SAXS, synchrotron source). The enlargement correlates with a decrease in lipid bilayer bending rigidity, and reproducibility across three independent measurements yielded a standard deviation of ±0.15 nm for the expanded phase. The chloride salt proved essential; the corresponding bromide salt induced a hexagonal phase already at 1.5 mM, rendering it incompatible with cubic phase crystallization of integral membrane receptors. This phase behavior is consistent with the Hofmeister series and imposes a strict counterion requirement for structural biology workflows. Premixing the hydrochloride with monoolein at 40 °C for 2 h before hydration avoids visible phase separation visible under cross-polarized light microscopy.