HPLC enantioseparation of racemic bupropion, baclofen and etodolac: modification of conventional ligand exchange approach by pre-column formation of chiral ligand exchange complexes.

Separation of racemic mixture of (RS)-bupropion, (RS)-baclofen and (RS)-etodolac, commonly marketed racemic drugs, has been achieved by modifying the conventional ligand exchange approach. The Cu(II) complexes were first prepared with a few l-amino acids, namely, l-proline, l-histidine, l-phenylalanine and l-tryptophan, and to these was introduced a mixture of the enantiomer pair of (RS)-bupropion, or (RS)-baclofen or (RS)-etodolac. As a result, formation of a pair of diastereomeric complexes occurred by 'chiral ligand exchange' via the competition between the chelating l-amino acid and each of the two enantiomers from a given pair. The diastereomeric mixture formed in the pre-column process was loaded onto HPLC column. Thus, both the phases during chromatographic separation process were achiral (i.e. neither the stationary phase had any chiral structural feature of its own nor did the mobile phase have any chiral additive). Separation of diastereomers was successful using a C18 column and a binary mixture of MeCN and TEAP buffer of pH 4.0 (60:40, v/v) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1 mL/min and UV detection at 230 nm for (RS)-Bup, 220 nm for (RS)-Bac and 223 nm for (RS)-Etd. Baseline separation of the two enantiomers was obtained with a resolution of 6.63 in <15 min. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

High-performance liquid chromatographic enantioseparation of (RS)-bupropion using isothiocyanate-based chiral derivatizing reagents.

A high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for enantioseparation of bupropion was developed using two isothiocyanate-based chiral derivatizing reagents, (S)-1-(1-naphthyl) ethyl isothiocyanate, (S)-NEIT, and (R)-α-methyl benzyl isothiocyanate, (R)-MBIT. The diastereomers synthesized with (S)-NEIT were enantioseparated by reversed-phase HPLC using gradient elution with mobile phase containing water and acetonitrile, whereas diastereomers synthesized with (R)-MBIT were enantioseparated using triethyl amine phosphate buffer and methanol. Derivatization conditions were optimized and the method was validated for accuracy, precision and limit of detection. The limit of detection was found to be 0.040-0.043 µg/mL for each of the diastereomers prepared with (S)-NEIT.

Sensitized phosphorescence as detection method for the enantioseparation of bupropion by capillary electrophoresis.

A new CE detection method was developed for the chiral drug bupropion (a second-generation antidepressant), based on phosphorescence both in the direct and in the sensitized mode using pulsed laser excitation at 266 nm. Electrokinetic chromatography using 5 mM sulfated-α-CD as chiral selector in 25 mM phosphate buffer at pH 3 allowed the separation of bupropion enantiomers with a high chiral resolution (Rs>3). In the sensitized phosphorescence detection mode, excitation energy is transferred from the analyte to an acceptor (1-bromo-4-napthhalenesulfonic acid or biacetyl) followed by time-resolved phosphorescence detection under deoxygenated buffer conditions. Using 2 × 10(-4) M biacetyl as the acceptor an LOD of 2 × 10(-7) M was obtained for each enantiomer, about 40 times better than in the direct mode. Under these separation conditions, no significantly different phosphorescence lifetimes (measured on-line) were obtained for the two bupropion enantiomers. The suitability of the method was demonstrated with the quantification of bupropion in a pharmaceutical formulation and its determination in a spiked urine sample.

Enantiomeric separation of bupropion enantiomers by electrokinetic chromatography: quantitative analysis in pharmaceutical formulations.

The first CE method enabling the quantitation of the two enantiomers of bupropion was developed in this work. Electrokinetic chromatography (EKC) mode using cyclodextrins as chiral selectors was employed. A study on the enantiomeric separation ability of different neutral and anionic CDs was carried out. Sulfated-beta-CD was shown to provide the highest values for the enantiomeric resolution. The influence of some experimental conditions, such as pH, chiral selector concentration, temperature, and separation voltage on the enantiomeric separation of bupropion was also studied. The use of 10 mM sulfated-beta-CD in 50 mM borate buffer (pH 9.0) with an applied voltage of 30 kV and a temperature of 30 degrees C enabled the separation of the enantiomers of bupropion with high resolution (Rs > 7) and short analysis time (approximately 3.5 min). Finally, the method was successfully applied to the quantitation of bupropion in two pharmaceutical formulations.

Bupropion hydrochloride: the development of a chiral separation using an ovomucoid column.

The separation of bupropion enantiomers on an ovomucoid stationary phase was investigated. The mobile- and stationary-phase parameters that may influence the separation were identified. The parameters that were studied include: type and concentration of organic modifier, mobile phase pH, ionic strength, type of buffer, and column temperature, as well as the effect that the amount of sample injected had on the separation. The optimized chiral separation baseline-resolved the enantiomers in less than 10 min. Calibration curves for a standard were linear over a range of 0.27-53.0 microg/g (ppm) with a correlation coefficient of 0.999 for both enantiomers. A detection limit of 0.13 microg/g and a quantitation limit of 0.27 microg/g were also found. The system precision of the method was 0.2%.

Quantification of 4 antidepressants and a metabolite by LC-MS for therapeutic drug monitoring.

A liquid chromatography method coupled to mass spectrometry was developed for the quantification of bupropion, its metabolite hydroxy-bupropion, moclobemide, reboxetine and trazodone in human plasma. The validation of the analytical procedure was assessed according to Société Française des Sciences et Techniques Pharmaceutiques and the latest Food and Drug Administration guidelines. The sample preparation was performed with 0.5 mL of plasma extracted on a cation-exchange solid phase 96-well plate. The separation was achieved in 14 min on a C18 XBridge column (2.1 mm×100 mm, 3.5 µm) using a 50 mM ammonium acetate pH 9/acetonitrile mobile phase in gradient mode. The compounds of interest were analysed in the single ion monitoring mode on a single quadrupole mass spectrometer working in positive electrospray ionisation mode. Two ions were selected per molecule to increase the number of identification points and to avoid as much as possible any false positives. Since selectivity is always a critical point for routine therapeutic drug monitoring, more than sixty common comedications for the psychiatric population were tested. For each analyte, the analytical procedure was validated to cover the common range of concentrations measured in plasma samples: 1-400 ng/mL for reboxetine and bupropion, 2-2000 ng/mL for hydroxy-bupropion, moclobemide, and trazodone. For all investigated compounds, reliable performance in terms of accuracy, precision, trueness, recovery, selectivity and stability was obtained. One year after its implementation in a routine process, this method demonstrated a high robustness with accurate values over the wide concentration range commonly observed among a psychiatric population.

Stereoselective analysis of hydroxybupropion and application to drug interaction studies.

A sensitive and stereoselective assay has been developed for the quantitation of the enantiomers of hydroxybupropion, an active metabolite of bupropion, in human plasma. The assay used liquid-liquid extraction and a Cyclobond I 2000 HPLC column with a mobile phase containing 3% acetonitrile, 0.5% triethylamine, and 20 mM ammonium acetate (pH 3.8). The technique was linear over the concentration range of 12.5-500 ng/ml for (2R,3R)- and (2S,3S)-hydroxybupropion. The method was reproducible as both interday and intraday variabilities were less than 10% for both hydroxybupropion enantiomers. Overall extraction recovery of hydroxybupropion enantiomers and the internal standard phenacetin from plasma was greater than 80% and reproducible over the concentration range of 12.5-500 ng/ml for each enantiomer. The limit of quantification (LOQ) of hydroxybupropion enantiomers was 12.5 ng/ml. The stereoselective pharmacokinetics of both (2R,3R)- and (2S,3S)-hydroxybupropion in healthy male subjects (n = 16) were investigated after a single dose of (rac)-bupropion either alone or during rifampicin administration. (2R,3R)-Hydroxybupropion was the predominant enantiomer present in plasma. A stereoselective effect of rifampicin on hydroxybupropion concentrations was observed, with rifampicin influencing the pharmacokinetics of each hydroxybupropion enantiomer in a different manner. The ratio of (2R,3R)-hydroxybupropion (AUC(0-24)) to (2S,3S)-hydroxybupropion (AUC(0-24)) increased from 4.9 +/- 1.6 to 8.3 +/- 1.9 during rifampicin administration (P < 0.001). A time-dependent change in the hydroxybupropion enantiomeric ratio was observed after (rac)-bupropion administration both before and during rifampicin coadministration, with an increase in the relative proportion of (2S,3S)-hydroxybupropion over the 24 h postdose period.