Enantiomeric separation of bupropion by liquid chromatography on derivatized cyclofructan chiral stationary phase.

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is an ideal tool for enantiomeric separations of different drugs. In this study, the direct enantioseparation of bupropion, an atypical antidepressant structurally related to cathinone, was explored by using five chiral columns, including three based on derivatized cyclofructans, macrocyclic glycopeptide teicoplanin, and an immobilized amylose derivative under multimodal elution conditions. Baseline enantioseparation was obtained on the LarihcShell CF6-RN column, with derivatized cyclofructan 6, in the polar organic mode. The effects of the mobile-phase composition, type and content of major components, the nature and the amount of mobile-phase additives, and the column temperature on the retention, selectivity, and resolution were investigated to optimize enantioseparation. The calibration curve was linear in the range of 10-125 µg/ml for each enantiomer. The limits of detection and quantification were 0.1 and 0.3 µg/ml for both enantiomers of bupropion. The chiral recognition was controlled especially by H bonds, π-π, dipole-dipole interactions, and steric effects. Finally, the developed method was applied to the determination of bupropion in the commercially available drug.

Enantiomeric separation of new phytoalexin analogs with cyclofructan chiral stationary phases in normal-phase mode.

For the first time, three different derivatized cyclofructan chiral stationary phases were used for the direct high-performance liquid chromatographic enantiomeric separation of 11 new racemic analogs of a natural indole phytoalexin. This class of compounds is known to have significant antiproliferative activity and other potentially useful pharmacological properties. The effect of various experimental factors was investigated to optimize the separations in the normal-phase mode. It was found that the nature of polar modifier and additive in the mobile phase have significant impact on the enantioseparations. Better chiral recognition of analyzed compounds was achieved on (R)-naphthylethyl carbamate cyclofructan 6 than on isopropyl carbamate cyclofructan 6 and dimethylphenyl carbamate cyclofructan 7. The thermodynamic parameters showed that the chiral separation was enthalpy controlled in all cases.

Determination of new antidepressants in pharmaceuticals by thin-layer chromatography with densitometry.

A new and simple TLC-densitometry method has been developed for the simultaneous separation of the two noradrenergic and specific serotonergic antidepressants mirtazapine and mianserine and validated for their determination in commercially available tablets. The method used TLC plates precoated with silica gel 60F254 as the stationary phase, and the mobile phase consisted of hexane-isopropanol-25% ammonia (70 + 25 + 5, v/v/v). Densitometric analysis was carried out in the absorbance mode at 280 nm. The method was validated in accordance with International Conference on Harmonization guidelines in terms of linearity, LOD, LOQ, precision, and accuracy. Calibration curves were linear (R2 > 0.9970) with respect to peak area in the concentration range of 500-2500 and 500-5000 ng/spot for mirtazapine and mianserine, respectively. The LODs were 20 and 35 ng/spot for mirtazapine and mianserine, respectively. The described method was successfully applied to the determination of mirtazapine and mianserine in their pharmaceutical formulations with recovery ranging from 99.83 to 101.20% of the labeled amount of the compounds. The proposed method can be used in routine QC of these drugs in pharmaceutical formulations.

Enantioselective separation of zopiclone on immobilized polysaccharide chiral stationary phase by HPLC: Method development and validation.

New, sensitive and rapid chiral HPLC method for enantioseparation and determination of widely used hypnotic drug, zopiclone, was developed. Enantioseparation was achieved on the immobilized amylose based Lux i-Amylose 1 column in polar organic mode in less than 7 min. The effects of the mobile phase composition, type and content of major components as well as acid/base ratio and column temperature on the retention and enantioseparation were investigated. The mobile phase consisted of acetonitril and methanol with small addition of triethylamine and acetic acid with a flow rate of 1 mL min-1. Calibration curves of both zopiclone enantiomers were linear over the concentration range of 5-125 µg mL-1. The limits of detection and quantification for (R)-zopiclone were 5 and 15 ng mL-1 and for (S)-zopiclone were 7 and 21 ng mL-1, respectively. It was demonstrated that the proposed method was selective, precise and robust. Finally, the validated method was applied to the determination of zopiclone enantiomers in the commercial tablets.

Fast enantioseparation of indole phytoalexins in additive free supercritical fluid chromatography.

A series of chiral indole phytoalexins with potential anticancer and antimicrobial activity were enantioseparated in supercritical fluid chromatography. Two polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases composed of tris-(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) derivatives of amylose or cellulose coated on 2.5 µm silica particles were successfully used. The influences of the polysaccharide backbone, co-solvent type and co-solvent content in the mobile phase on retention, enantioselectivity and enantioresolution of indole phytoalexins were investigated. Fast baseline separations were achieved for 26 from 27 tested compounds. Amylose-based chiral stationary phase provided higher number of baseline resolutions of the indole phytoalexins than the cellulose-based one. However, certain complementary enantioresolution results towards the studied compounds were observed between the investigated columns. The relationship between structure of the indole phytoalexins and their chromatographic behavior in supercritical fluid chromatography was discussed.

Liquid chromatographic chiral recognition of phytoalexins on immobilized polysaccharides chiral stationary phases. Unusual temperature behavior.

Three immobilized polysaccharide chiral stationary phases, Chiralpak IA, Chiralpak IB and Chiralpak IC, were used for the study of enantioseparation of 36 derivatives of natural indole phytoalexins, in most cases bioactive, including racemic spirobrassinin, 1-methoxyspirobrassinin and 1-methoxyspirobrassinol methyl ether. Almost all analytes were baseline resolved at least on two different polysaccharide columns in normal phase mode. The effects of mobile phase composition, the analyte structure and the column temperature on the retention and enantioseparation were investigated. Evaluation of the corresponding thermodynamic parameters using van´t Hoff plots (ln k versus 1/T) in the temperature range -15 to 50 °C indicated that separations were enthalpy controlled in most cases, but some entropy controlled separations were also observed. Moreover, unusual phenomenon, an increase retention with increasing temperature accompanied with increased resolution was observed on the Chiralpak IC column. The elution order of enantiomers was determined in some cases and reversed elution order was also observed.

New enantioselective LC method development and validation for the assay of modafinil.

For the first time, a new, fast and sensitive chromatographic method for the separation and determination of modafinil enantiomers was developed on chiral stationary phase with macrocyclic glycopeptide teicoplanin in the polar organic mode. The effect of the mobile phase composition and column temperature on the retention and enantioseparation were studied. The separation was performed using a Chirobiotic T column (250×4.6mm, 5µm) with methanol and triethylamine (100/0.05, v/v) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0mL/min, and UV detection at 225nm. The total analysis time is less than 6min, which is faster than the previous chiral HPLC methods (total run time of 12min). Calibration curves were linear (R2>0.999) over a concentration range 5-150µg/mL for each modafinil enantiomer. Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) for (R)-modafinil were 15 and 45ng/mL and for (S)-modafinil were 20 and 60ng/mL, respectively. The recoveries were in the range of 100.5-102.3% with the relative standard deviations ranging from 0.4% to 1.0% for both enantiomers. It was demonstrated that the developed method was selective, precise and robust. The validated method was successfully applied for the separation and determination of modafinil enantiomers in the real samples.