Enantiodiscrimination of methamphetamine by circular dichroism using a porphyrin tweezer.

Using exciton-coupled circular dichroism (ECCD) spectroscopy, our lab was able to differentiate between the two enantiomers of methamphetamine using a commercially available porphyrin tweezer as an achiral host. The host-guest complex formed with (+)-(S)-methamphetamine produced a negative bisignate-shaped ECCD spectrum, whereas the complex formed with (-)-(R)-methamphetamine produced a positive one. This sensitive technique could serve as an alternative method for the enantiodiscrimination of chiral methamphetamine, a commonly abused drug in the United States. Chirality 22:398-402, 2010. (C) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.