Enantioselective analysis of venlafaxine and its active metabolites: A review on the separation methodologies.

Venlafaxine (VFX) is a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor chiral drug used in therapy as an antidepressant in the form of a racemate consisting of R- and S-VFX. The two enantiomers of VFX exhibit different pharmacological activities: R-VFX inhibits both norepinephrine and serotonin synaptic reuptake, whereas S-VFX inhibits only the serotonin one. R- and S-VFX are metabolized in the liver to the respective R- and S-O-desmethylvenlafaxine (ODVFX), R- and S-N-desmethylvenlafaxine (NDVFX), and R- and S-N,O-didesmethylvenlafaxine (NODVFX). The pharmacological profile of ODVFX is close to that of VFX, whereas the other two chiral metabolites (NDVFX and NODVFX) have lower affinity for the receptor sites. The pharmacokinetics of the VFX enantiomers appear stereoselective, including the metabolism process. In the past 20 years, several studies describing the enantioselective analysis of R- and S-VFX in pharmaceutical formulations and its chiral metabolites in biological matrices were published. These methods encompass liquid chromatography coupled with UV detection, mass spectrometry, or tandem mass spectrometry, and capillary electrophoresis. This paper reviews the published methods used for the determination of the individual enantiomers of VFX and its chiral metabolites in different matrices.

Analytical methodologies for the enantiodetermination of citalopram and its metabolites.

Citalopram (CIT) is a highly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) frequently used in the treatment of major depressive disorders. It has a chiral centre in its structure and is used in therapy both as a racemic mixture (R,S-CIT) and a pure enantiomer (S-CIT). The differences between the pharmacokinetic and pharmacological profiles of the two enantiomers are well established. Consequently, the development of new efficient chiral analysis methods for their enantiomeric separation is a topic of great actuality. CIT metabolism is stereoselective as it is metabolized in chiral active metabolites, which retain considerable SSRI activity and contribute to the pharmacological effect. Chiral analytical methods are employed for the determination of enantiomeric ratio in pharmaceutical preparations and for monitoring the enantiomer levels in biological samples for therapeutic and toxicologic purposes. The current study reviews the published literature for the chiral analysis of CIT and its metabolites based on chromatographic and electrophoretic methods coupled with UV, fluorescence and mass spectrometry detectors.

Enantioseparation of citalopram enantiomers by capillary electrophoresis: Method development through experimental design and computational modeling.

Citalopram (CIT) is a frequently used modern antidepressant that inhibits selectively serotonin reuptake in the brain. It has a chiral center in its structure and is used in therapy as both racemic mixture and pure enantiomer as its pharmacological effect is almost entirely associated with S-CIT. The aim of this study was the development of a simple and rapid capillary electrophoresis (CE) method for the separation and quantification of CIT enantiomers. To establish the optimum chiral selector, several native and derivatized, neutral, and ionized cyclodextrins (CDs) were examined at different pH levels. An experimental design strategy was adopted for method optimization; a fractional factorial design was applied for screening purposes to identify significant experimental factors followed by a face-centered central composite design used for optimization purposes. Computational modeling was used to obtain information on the interaction energy and the geometry of the complexes to aid in the understanding of chiral separation mechanism. The best results were obtained when using a 25-mM phosphate buffer at pH 7.0, 3-mM CM-ß-CD as chiral selector, 17.5°C temperature, 15-kV voltage, and 50 mbar/s hydrodynamic injection. The separation time was fast, below 3 min, and the migration order was S-CIT followed by R-CIT. The analytical performance of the method was verified in terms of precision, linearity, accuracy, sensibility, and robustness, and the method was applied for the determination of CIT enantiomers from pharmaceutical preparations.

Capillary electrophoresis in the enantioseparation of modern antidepressants: An overview.

Chirality is a key subject in modern drug research as well as in the pharmaceutical industry and drug development. Almost all second-generation modern antidepressants are chiral substances; however in therapy some are used as racemic mixtures while others are used as pure enantiomers. The development of enantioseparation methods of chiral antidepressants and their metabolites is one of the keys in understanding their enantioselective drug action. For this purpose, efficient and reliable analytical methods are needed, and capillary electrophoresis has proved to be an interesting and advantageous alternative to the more frequently used chromatographic techniques. In this review electrodriven methods available for the chiral discrimination of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (fluoxetine, citalopram, sertraline) and selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (venlafaxine, duloxetine) are presented and discussed.

Analytical methodologies for the stereoselective determination of fluoxetine: An overview.

Fluoxetine is a widely used antidepressant belonging to the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor class; it is used in the treatment of major depression, obsessive compulsive, premenstrual dysphoric, panic and post-traumatic stress disorders. Fluoxetine is an optical active pharmaceutical substance, which is used as a racemate in therapy, but stereospecific interactions associated with the serotonin-reuptake carrier, for both the parent drug and its active metabolite, norfluoxetine, have been described in the literature. Therefore, the stereoselective analysis of fluoxetine and norfluoxetine is important in order to characterize the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profile of the analytes. Several chromatographic and electrophoretic methods have been published in the literature for the chiral discrimination of fluoxetine enantiomers from different matrices. The purpose of the current review is to provide a systematic survey of the analytical techniques used for the chiral determination of fluoxetine and norfluoxetine covering a period of ~25 years.

Enantioselective analysis of fluoxetine in pharmaceutical formulations by capillary zone electrophoresis.

Fluoxetine is an antidepressant, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) used primarily in the treatment of major depression, panic disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. Chiral separation of racemic fluoxetine is necessary due to its enantioselective metabolism. In order to develop a suitable method for chiral separation of fluoxetine, cyclodextrin (CD) modified capillary electrophoresis (CE) was employed. A large number of native and derivatized, neutral and ionized CD derivatives were screened to find the optimal chiral selector. As a result of this process, heptakis(2,3,6-tri-O-methyl)-ß-CD (TRIMEB) was selected for enantiomeric discrimination. A factorial analysis study was performed by orthogonal experimental design in which several factors are varied at the same time to optimize the separation method. The optimized method (50 mM phosphate buffer, pH = 5.0, 10 mM TRIMEB, 15 °C, + 20 kV, 50 mbar/1 s, detection at 230 nm) was successful for baseline separation of fluoxetine enantiomers within 5 min. Our method was validated according to ICH guidelines and proved to be sensitive, linear, accurate and precise for the chiral separation of fluoxetine.

Erratum to: Chirality of Modern Antidepressants: An Overview.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.15171/apb.2017.061.].

Chirality of Modern Antidepressants: An Overview.

The majority of modern antidepressants (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors) have one or two centers of asymmetry in their structure; resulting in the formation of enantiomers which may exhibit different pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties. Recent developments in drug stereochemistry has led to understanding the role of chirality in modern therapy correlated with increased knowledge regarding the molecular structure of specific drug targets and towards the possible advantages of using pure enantiomers instead of racemic mixtures. The current review deals with chiral antidepressant drugs; presenting examples of stereoselectivity in the pharmacological actions of certain antidepressants and their metabolites and emphasizing the differences between pharmacological actions of the racemates and pure enantiomers.

Cyclodextrine screening for the chiral separation of amlodipine enantiomers by capillary electrophoresis.

PURPOSE: Amlodipine is a long acting, dihydropyridine type calcium channel blocker frequently used in the treatment of hypertension and coronary insufficiency. The calcium channel blocking activity resides primarily in the S-amlodipine enantiomer, while R-amlodipine is a potent inhibitor of smooth muscle cell migration. METHODS: In this study capillary electrophoresis was applied for the enantiomeric separation of amlodipine using different native and derivatized; neutral and charged cyclodextrines as chiral selectors. The effects of pH and composition of the background electrolyte, concentration and type of chiral selector, capillary temperature, running voltage and injection parameters have been investigated. RESULTS: Stereoselective interactions were observed when using α-CD, ß-CD, HP-ß-CD, RAMEB, CM-ß-CD and SBE-ß-CD. Optimized separation conditions consisted on a 50 mM phosphate buffer, pH - 3.0, 20 mM RAMEB as chiral selector, + 25 kV applied voltage, 15°C temperature and UV detection at 238 nm. Using the optimized electrophoretic conditions we succeeded the chiral separation of amlodipine enantiomers in approximately 6 minute, the order of migration being R-amlodipine followed by S-amlodipine. The method was successfully applied for the determination of amlodipine enantiomers from commercially available pharmaceuticals. The linearity range, limits of detection and quantification, precision and accuracy were determined and the results obtained confirmed that the method was suitable for this purpose. CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that the proposed capillary electrophoresis methods can be useful for routine pharmaceutical applications with benefits of its effectivity, simplicity, short analysis time and low consumption of analytes, solvents and chiral selectors.