# Further Improving and Utilizing HTS Methods for EE Determinations

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN · 2020 · $332,533

## Abstract

Abstract
 The need for user-friendly and rapid assays for enantiomeric excess (ee) is increasing due to the
advent of high-throughput parallel synthesis protocols, directed enzyme evolution, and bead-based catalyst
creation. If enabled with rapid protocols for ee, one can envision accommodating such routines involving
thousands of reactions. Current HPLC-based protocols for ee analysis cannot accommodate such numbers.
 Due to the rapid nature and utility of our assays, we are fortunate that many chemists from around the
world have contacted us to exploit our capabilities. However, under the guise of this NIH project, we focus on
four collaborations that push various aspects of our methods. With Scott Miller (Yale) we will develop methods
for bead-based catalyst screening. With John Hartwig (UC Berkeley) and Adrian Keatinge-Clay we will
generate protocols that can readily analyze directed evolution of enzymatic catalysis. With chemists at Merck
Rahway, we will facilitate base-metal reaction discovery. In each project, we will use our one-of-a-kind circular
dichroism (CD) spectropolarimeter, along with methods of sample triage and standard workflow procedures.
 On a more basic science level, but still focused on translation to the synthetic community, we will
explore multi-parameter fitting protocols (analogous to linear free energy relationships) that will remove the
necessity of having enantioenriched samples to generate calibration curves. Second, for many of the
collaborations, we will generate not only ee assays, but also techniques to determine diastereomeric ratio (dr)
and reaction yield in a rapid parallel fashion. Further, to facilitate bead-based catalyst discovery, we will use
microlithography to generate quartz plates for use in our spectropolarimeter.
 Hence, this project is translational while retaining hypothesis driven aspects. Our collaborative efforts
will test the utility and generality of our methods, while also highlighting the power of supramolecular chemistry
and physical-organic insights, to assist synthetic organic reaction discovery.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9828562
- **Project number:** 5R01GM077437-11
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
- **Principal Investigator:** Eric V. Anslyn
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $332,533
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2006-04-01 → 2021-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9828562

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9828562, Further Improving and Utilizing HTS Methods for EE Determinations (5R01GM077437-11). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9828562. Licensed CC0.

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