Indirect Chiral Separation of New Recreational Drugs by Gas Chromatography‐Mass Spectrometry Using Trifluoroacetyl‐L‐Prolyl Chloride as Chiral Derivatization Reagent

New recreational drugs such as amphetamine‐, cathinone, and benzofury derivatives gained high popularity on the drug market in recent years. They can be purchased via the Internet from different providers and online portals. Most of these compounds are chiral, which makes the development of chiral separation methods necessary. Besides this, it is useful to find out if the compounds were sold as racemic mixtures. Also, it is important to check whether the new psychoactive compounds contain further ingredients or impurities. The aim of this research was the continuation of the application of a method for indirect chiral separation of 24 new psychoactive compounds recently purchased via the Internet. After derivatization with the chiral derivatization reagent trifluoroacetyl‐L‐prolyl chloride, chromatographic separation of diastereomers was achieved using a 30 m HP5‐MS capillary column. As carrier gas, helium was used with a constant flow of 1.0 ml/min. Three different column temperature programs were tested. Under optimum conditions 13 out of 24 compounds were successfully resolved into their enantiomers obtaining Rs values up to 7.0. The use of a single quadrupole mass spectrometer as the detector allowed the identification of the compounds in multicomponent samples. Chirality 27:211–215, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Enantioseparation of Racemic Flurbiprofen by Aqueous Two‐Phase Extraction With Binary Chiral Selectors of L‐dioctyl Tartrate and L‐tryptophan

A novel method for chiral separation of flurbiprofen enantiomers was developed using aqueous two‐phase extraction (ATPE) coupled with biphasic recognition chiral extraction (BRCE). An aqueous two‐phase system (ATPS) was used as an extracting solvent which was composed of ethanol (35.0% w/w) and ammonium sulfate (18.0% w/w). The chiral selectors in ATPS for BRCE consideration were L‐dioctyl tartrate and L‐tryptophan, which were screened from amino acids, β‐cyclodextrin derivatives, and L‐tartrate esters. Factors such as the amounts of L‐dioctyl tartrate and L‐tryptophan, pH, flurbiprofen concentration, and the operation temperature were investigated in terms of chiral separation of flurbiprofen enantiomers. The optimum conditions were as follows: L‐dioctyl tartrate, 80 mg; L‐tryptophan, 40 mg; pH, 4.0; flurbiprofen concentration, 0.10 mmol/L; and temperature, 25 °C. The maximum separation factor α for flurbiprofen enantiomers could reach 2.34. The mechanism of chiral separation of flurbiprofen enantiomers is discussed and studied. The results showed that synergistic extraction has been established by L‐dioctyl tartrate and L‐tryptophan, which enantioselectively recognized R‐ and S‐enantiomers in top and bottom phases, respectively. Compared to conventional liquid–liquid extraction, ATPE coupled with BRCE possessed higher separation efficiency and enantioselectivity without the use of any other organic solvents. The proposed method is a potential and powerful alternative to conventional extraction for separation of various enantiomers. Chirality 27:650–657, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Direct Enantioseparation of Nitrogen‐heterocyclic Pesticides on Amylose‐tris‐(5‐chloro‐2‐methylphenylcarbamate) by Reversed‐Phase High‐Performance Liquid Chromatography

In this study, 11 nitrogen‐heterocyclic pesticides were stereoselectively separated on amylose‐tris‐(5‐chloro‐2‐methylphenylcarbamate) chiral stationary phase, using reversed‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector and optical rotation detector at 426 nm. The effects of mobile phase composition and column temperature (5–40 °C) on separation were investigated. When acetonitrile and water were used as mobile phase, satisfactory separations were obtained on amylose‐tris‐(5‐chloro‐2‐methylphenylcarbamate) for four pesticides with elution orders of (+)/(?)‐simeconazole (1) , (?)/(+)‐nuarimol (3) , (?)/(+)‐carfentrazone‐ethyl (4) , and (?)/(+)/(?)/(+)‐bromuconazole (9) and part separations for three with elution orders of (?)/(+)‐famoxadone (6) , (+)/(?)‐fenbuconazole (10) , and (?)/(+)‐triapenthenol (11) . Only two chromatographic peaks on diode array detector were obtained for diclobutrazol (2) , cyproconazole (5) , etaconazole (7) , and metconazole (8) , although they should have four stereoisomers in theory because of presences of two chiral centers in molecules. The stereoisomeric optical signals of all pesticides did not reverse with temperature changes but would reverse with different solvent types for some pesticides. These results will be useful to prepare and analyze individual enantiomers of chiral pesticides. Chirality 24:1031–1036, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Direct Enantioseparation of Nitrogen‐Heterocyclic Pesticides on Cellulose‐Based Chiral Column by High‐Performance Liquid Chromatography

The enantiomeric separation of eight pesticides including bitertanol ( 1 ), diclobutrazol ( 2 ), fenbuconazole ( 3 ), triticonazole ( 4 ), imazalil ( 5 ), triapenthenol ( 6 ), ancymidol ( 7 ), and carfentrazone‐ethyl ( 8 ) was achieved, using normal‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography on two cellulosed‐based chiral columns. The effects of isopropanol composition from 2% to 30% in the mobile phase and column temperature from 5 to 40 °C were investigated. Satisfactory resolutions were obtained for bitertanol ( 1 ), triticonazole ( 4 ), imazalil ( 5 ) with the (+)‐enantiomer eluted first and fenbuconazole ( 3 ) with the (—)‐enantiomer eluted first on Lux Cellulose‐2 and Lux Cellulose‐3. (+)‐Enantiomers of diclobutrazol ( 2 ) and triapenthenol ( 6 ) were first eluted on Lux Cellulose‐2. (—)‐Carfentrazone‐ethyl ( 8 ) were eluted first on Lux Cellulose‐2 and Lux Cellulose‐3 with incomplete separation. Reversed elution orders were obtained for ancymidol (7). (+)‐Ancymidol was first eluted on Lux Cellulose‐2 while on Lux Cellulose‐3 (—)‐ancymidol was first eluted. The results of the elution order at different column temperatures suggested that column temperature did not affect the optical signals of the enantiomers. These results will be helpful to prepare and analyze individual enantiomers of chiral pesticides. Chirality 27:32–38, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Enantioseparation of Mandelic Acid Enantiomers With Magnetic Nano‐Sorbent Modified by a Chiral Selector

In this study, R(+)‐α‐methylbenzylamine‐modified magnetic chiral sorbent was synthesized and assessed as a new enantioselective solid phase sorbent for separation of mandelic acid enantiomers from aqueous solutions. The chemical structures and magnetic properties of the new sorbent were characterized by vibrating sample magnetometry, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and dynamic light scattering. The effects of different variables such as the initial concentration of racemic mandelic acid, dosage of sorbent, and contact time upon sorption characteristics of mandelic acid enantiomers on magnetic chiral sorbent were investigated. The sorption of mandelic acid enantiomers followed a pseudo‐second‐order reaction and equilibrium experiments were well fitted to a Langmuir isotherm model. The maximum adsorption capacity of racemic mandelic acid on to the magnetic chiral sorbent was found to be 405 mg g^?1. The magnetic chiral sorbent has a greater affinity for (S)‐(+)‐mandelic acid compared to (R)‐(?)‐mandelic acid. The optimum resolution was achieved with 10 mL 30 mM of racemic mandelic acid and 110 mg of magnetic chiral sorbent. The best percent enantiomeric excess values (up to 64%) were obtained by use of a chiralpak AD‐H column. Chirality 27:835–842, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Establishment and Evaluation of the Novel Tetramethylammonium‐L‐Hydroxyproline Chiral Ionic Liquid Synergistic System Based on Clindamycin Phosphate for Enantioseparation by Capillary Electrophoresis

Much attention has been paid to chiral ionic liquids (ILs) in analytical chemistry, especially its application in capillary electrophoresis (CE) enantioseparation. However, the investigation of chiral ionic liquids synergistic systems based on antibiotic chiral selectors has been reported in only one article. In this work, a novel chiral ionic liquid, tetramethylammonium‐L‐hydroxyproline (TMA‐L‐Hyp), was applied for the first time in CE chiral separation to evaluate its potential synergistic effect with clindamycin phosphate (CP) as the chiral selector. As observed, significantly improved separation was obtained in this TMA‐L‐Hyp/CP synergistic system compared to TMA‐L‐Hyp or a CP single system. Several primary factors that might influence the separation were investigated, including CP concentration, TMA‐L‐Hyp concentration, buffer pH, types and concentrations of organic modifier, applied voltage, and capillary temperature. The best results were obtained with a 40 mM borax buffer (pH 7.6) containing 30 mM TMA‐L‐Hyp, 80 mM CP, and 20% (v/v) methanol, while the applied voltage and temperature were set at 20 kV and 20°C, respectively. Chirality 27:598–604, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Preparative Enantioseparation of (RS)‐Baclofen: Determination of Molecular Dissymmetry

The present work reports preparative enantioseparation of (RS)‐baclofen using thin‐layer chromatography (TLC) and high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Diastereomers were synthesized using a new monochloro‐s‐triazine‐based chiral derivatizing reagent (CDR), namely, N‐(4‐chloro‐6‐piperidinyl‐[1,3,5]‐triazine‐2‐yl)‐L‐phenylalanine, under microwave irradiation. Acetonitrile‐0.1% aq. triflouroacetic acid in gradient elution mode and CH₃OH‐CH₂Cl₂ (4:5; v/v) were successful as mobile phase in HPLC and TLC, respectively. The two diastereomers were isolated by preparative TLC. Molecular dissymmetry was established by developing the lowest energy optimized structures of the diastereomers based on Density Functional Theory and with the help of ¹H NMR showing anisotropic effect associated with aromatic ring of s‐triazine (in the CDR). The configuration of diastereomers was established as [L‐Phe‐(R)‐Bac] and [L‐Phe‐(S)‐Bac], where the first notation refers to the configuration of chiral auxiliary (of the CDR) and the second to that of the analyte Bac. Limits of detection were found to be 0.056 and 0.061 ng mL^?1, respectively, for the two diastereomers. Determination of absolute configuration of the two diastereomers lent support to the elution order and separation mechanism.Chirality 27:299–305, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Strategy Approach for Direct Enantioseparation of Hyoscyamine Sulfate and Zopiclone on a Chiral αl‐Acid Glycoprotein Column and Determination of Their Eutomers: Thermodynamic Study of Complexation

Rapid and simple isocratic high‐performance liquid chromatographic methods with UV detection were developed and validated for the direct resolution of racemic mixtures of hyoscyamine sulfate and zopiclone. The method involved the use of α_l‐acid glycoprotein (AGP) as chiral stationary phase. The stereochemical separation factor (?) and the stereochemical resolution factor (R_s) obtained were 1.29 and 1.60 for hyoscyamine sulfate and 1.47 and 2.45 for zopiclone, respectively. The method was used for determination of chiral switching (eutomer) isomers: S‐hyoscyamine sulfate and eszopiclone. Several mobile phase parameters were investigated for controlling enantioselective retention and resolution on the chiral AGP column. The influence of mobile phase, concentration and type of uncharged organic modifier, ionic strength, and column temperature on enantioselectivity were studied. Calibration curves were linear in the ranges of 1–10 µg mL^‐1 and 0.5–5 µg mL^‐1 for S‐hyoscyamine sulfate and eszopiclone, respectively. The method is specific and sensitive, with lower limits of detection and quantifications of 0.156, 0.515 and 0.106, 0.349 for S‐hyoscyamine sulfate and eszopiclone, respectively. The method was used to identify quantitatively the enantiomers profile of the racemic mixtures of the studied drugs in their pharmaceutical preparations. Thermodynamic studies were performed to calculate the enthalpic ΔH and entropic ΔS terms. The results showed that enantiomer separation of the studied drugs were an enthalpic process. Chirality 28:49–57, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Synthesis and Enantioseparation Ability of Xylan Bisphenylcarbamate Derivatives as Chiral Stationary Phases in HPLC

Ten novel xylan bisphenylcarbamate derivatives bearing meta‐ and para‐substituents on their phenyl groups were synthesized and their chiral recognition abilities were evaluated as the chiral stationary phases (CSPs) for high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) after coating them on macroporous silica. The chiral recognition abilities of these CSPs depended on the nature, position, and number of the substituents on the phenyl moieties. The introduction of an electron‐donating group was more attractive than an electron‐withdrawing group to improve the chiral recognition ability of the xylan phenylcarbamate derivatives. Among the CSPs discussed in this study, xylan bis(3,5‐dimethylphenylcarbamate)‐based CSP seems to possess the highest resolving power for many racemates, and the meta‐substituted CSPs showed relatively better chiral recognition than the para‐substituted ones. For some racemates, the xylan bis(3,5‐dimethylphenylcarbamate) derivative exhibited higher enantioselectivity than the CSP based on cellulose tris(3,5‐dimethylphenylcarbamate). Chirality 27:518–522, 2015 © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Enantioseparation of nine indanone and tetralone derivatives by HPLC using carboxymethyl‐β‐cyclodextrin as the mobile phase additive

High‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is a powerful method in the area of chiral separation. In this study, a method of HPLC using carboxymethyl‐β‐cyclodextrin (CM‐β‐CD) as chiral selector was developed for enantioseparation of nine indanone and tetralone derivatives. The separation was performed on a conventional C₁₈ column. The optimal mobile phase was a mixture of methanol and 0.05 mol/L phosphate buffer at pH 1.8 (55:45, v /v) containing 22.9 mmol/L CM‐β‐CD. Under such conditions, the resolutions of all analytes were over 1.8 except for Compound F. The results of the study indicate the presence of a complex with 1:1 stoichiometry of the inclusion complex. In addition, it can be inferred from thermodynamic analysis that the behavior of formation of the inclusion complex and enantioseparation occurred simultaneously, while they were driven by different forces. The effect of analyte structure is also discussed.     

Enantioseparation of chiral pharmaceuticals by vancomycin‐bonded stationary phase and analysis of chiral recognition mechanism

The drug chirality is attracting increasing attention because of different biological activities, metabolic pathways, and toxicities of chiral enantiomers. The chiral separation has been a great challenge. Optimized high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods based on vancomycin chiral stationary phase (CSP) were developed for the enantioseparation of propranolol, atenolol, metoprolol, venlafaxine, fluoxetine, and amlodipine. The retention and enantioseparation properties of these analytes were investigated in the variety of mobile phase additives, flow rate, and column temperature. As a result, the optimal chromatographic condition was achieved using methanol as a main mobile phase with triethylamine (TEA) and glacial acetic acid (HOAc) added as modifiers in a volume ratio of 0.01% at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/minute and at a column temperature of 5°C. The thermodynamic parameters (eg, ΔH, ΔΔH, and ΔΔS) from linear van 't Hoff plots revealed that the retention of investigated pharmaceuticals on vancomycin CSP was an exothermic process. The nonlinear behavior of lnk′ against 1/T for propranolol, atenolol, and metoprolol suggested the presence of multiple binding mechanisms for these analytes on CSP with variation of temperature. The simulated interaction processes between vancomycin and pharmaceutical enantiomers using molecular docking technique and binding energy calculations indicated that the calculated magnitudes of steady combination energy (ΔG) coincided with experimental elution order for most of these enantiomers.     

Enantioseparation of Tröger's Base Derivatives by Capillary Electrophoresis Using Cyclodextrins as Chiral Selectors

The enantioseparation of seven Tröger's base derivatives (TBs) was carried out by capillary electrophoresis using α‐, β‐, and γ‐cyclodextrins as chiral selectors and phosphate at 20 mmol/l concentration, pH 2.5, as background electrolyte. The method was optimized with respect to the concentration of chosen chiral selectors (0–50 mmol/l) and the amount of organic solvent (acetonitrile, 0–25 % (v/v)) in the electrolyte. The results indicate that all the studied variables, i.e., type of chiral selector, its concentration, and the amount of the added organic solvent, have a significant impact on the enantioseparation of the studied TBs. The best results for the majority of the separated TBs were obtained utilizing β‐cyclodextrin at 5 mmol/l concentration and with various amounts of acetonitrile added ranging from 5 to 15% (v/v) in the background electrolyte. For the two smallest studied TBs, γ‐cyclodextrin with 10% (v/v) acetonitrile also provided good resolution. Chirality 25:379–383, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Enantioseparation of ofloxacin and its four related substances with ligand exchange–micellar electrokinetic chromatography using copper(II)‐L‐isoleucine complex as chiral selector

A ligand‐exchange micellar electrokinetic capillary electrophoresis system with copper(II)‐L‐isoleucine complexes as the chiral selector incorporated in micelles of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was developed for the enantioseparation of ofloxacin and its four related substances (impurities A, C, E, and F). The effects of important parameters affecting separation such as buffer pH, SDS concentration, chiral selector concentration, and organic additive were investigated in detail. Under optimum experimental conditions, enantioseparation of ofloxacin, impurities A, C, E, and F enantiomers was accomplished with resolutions of 4.28, 2.83, 3.40, 3.58, and 2.46, respectively. Further, simultaneous separation of impurities A, C, E, and F enantiomers was achieved using 10 mmol/L NH₄OAc as the running buffer containing 4 mmol/L copper sulfate,20 mmol/L L‐isoleucine, 20 mmol/L SDS, and 5% methanol at pH 8.5. To the best of our knowledge, the simultaneous enantioseparation of four impurities of ofloxacin has not been reported previously.     

HPLC法测定植物中乌索酸的含量

采用HPLC法测定6种植物中乌索酸的含量,为扩大植物中乌索酸药物资源的开发利用提供分离测定方法。色谱柱为SyrmnetryShieldRP18,流动相甲醇-水-磷酸(88：12：0．1),流速1．0mL／min,检测波长210m,柱温2．5℃。该方法的线性范围为0．192-3．072μg,R=0．9999,平均回收率为98．12％,RSD=1．7％(n=5)。HPLC法测定乌索酸含量灵敏、准确、重现性好。     

乙醇系统HPLC分析PTC－氨基酸的条件优化

首次报道用乙醇系统分析ＰＴＣ－氨基酸的新方法中各衍生物获得最佳分离的建立过程。ＰＴＣ－氨基酸衍生后溶于Ａ溶液,然后进样于４μｍＮｏｖａＰａｋＣ１８柱（３．９ｍｍ×１５０ｍｍ）。系统的优化步序包括全面调控流动相的ｐＨ值与ＴＥＡ浓度、乙醇梯度程序、柱温等诸多影响ＨＰＬＣ色谱行为的因素。最适条件为：Ａ溶液含０．１４ＭＧ酸钠、０．７５ｍｌ／ＬＴＥＡ、ＰＨ６．３５;Ｂ溶液为１００％乙醇;柱温３０℃。通过优化的乙醇梯度最终在约４４ｍｉｎ内将１５种ＰＴＣ－氨基酸很好地分离。此法可用于替代代表新科技水平的ＰＴＣ－氨基酸乙腈分析系统。     

Effect of Chromatographic Conditions on Enantioseparation of Bovine Serum Albumin Chiral Stationary Phase in HPLC and Thermodynamic Studies

Twelve chiral compounds were enantiomerically resolved on bovine serum albumin chiral stationary phase (BSA‐CSP) by high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in reversed‐phase modes. Chromatographic conditions such as mobile phase pH, the percentage of organic modifier, and concentration of analyte were optimized for separation of enantiomers. For N‐(2, 4‐dinitrophenyl)‐serine (DNP‐ser), the retention factors (k) greatly increase from 0.81 to 6.23 as the pH decreasing from 7.21 to 5.14, and the resolution factor (R_s) exhibited a similar increasing trend (from 0 to 1.34). More interestingly, the retention factors for N‐(2, 4‐dinitrophenyl)‐proline (DNP‐pro) decrease along with increasing 1‐propanol in mobile phase (3%, 5%, 7% and 9% by volume), whereas the resolution factor shows an upward trend (from 0.96 to 2.04). Moreover, chiral recognition mechanisms for chiral analytes were further investigated through thermodynamic methods. Chirality 25:487–492, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Preparative Enantioseparation of β‐Substituted‐2‐Phenylpropionic Acids by Countercurrent Chromatography With Substituted β‐Cyclodextrin as Chiral Selectors

Preparative enantioseparation of four β‐substituted‐2‐phenylpropionic acids was performed by countercurrent chromatography with substituted β‐cyclodextrin as chiral selectors. The two‐phase solvent system was composed of n‐hexane‐ethyl acetate‐0.10 mol L‐1 of phosphate buffer solution at pH 2.67 containing 0.10 mol L^‐1 of hydroxypropyl‐β‐cyclodextrin (HP‐β‐CD) or sulfobutylether‐β‐cyclodextrin (SBE‐β‐CD). The influence factors, including the type of substituted β‐cyclodextrin, composition of organic phase, concentration of chiral selector, pH value of the aqueous phase, and equilibrium temperature were optimized by enantioselective liquid–liquid extraction. Under the optimum separation conditions, 100 mg of 2‐phenylbutyric acid, 100 mg of tropic acid, and 50 mg of 2,3‐diphenylpropionic acid were successfully enantioseparated by high‐speed countercurrent chromatography, and the recovery of the (±)‐enantiomers was in the range of 90–91% for (±)‐2‐phenylbutyric acid, 91–92% for (±)‐tropic acid, 85–87% for (±)‐2,3‐diphenylpropionic acid with purity of over 97%, 96%, and 98%, respectively. The formation of 1:1 stoichiometric inclusion complex of β‐substituted‐2‐phenylpropionic acids with HP‐β‐CD was determined by UV spectrophotometry and the inclusion constants were calculated by a modified Benesi‐Hildebrand equation. The results showed that different enantioselectivities among different racemates were mainly caused by different enantiorecognition between each enantiomer and HP‐β‐CD, while it might be partially caused by different inclusion capacity between racemic solutes and HP‐β‐CD. Chirality 27:795–801, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Enantioselective Photolysis and Quantitative Chiral Analysis of Tryptophan Complexed With Alkali‐Metalized L‐Serine in the Gas Phase

The enantioselective photolysis of a cold gas‐phase noncovalent complex of tryptophan with alkali‐metalized L‐serine, M⁺(L‐Ser)(Trp) (M = Na and Li), was examined using a tandem mass spectrometer containing a variable‐temperature ion trap. CO₂ loss from Trp in the clusters was enantiomerically selective in ultraviolet excitation with linearly polarized light. M⁺(L‐Ser) promoted the enantioselective photolysis of Trp as a chiral auxiliary. The enantioselective photolysis of the D‐enantiomer was applied to a quantitative chiral analysis, in which the optical purity of tryptophan could be determined by measuring the relative abundance ratio R of the enantioselective CO₂ loss to the chiral‐independent evaporation of L‐Ser in a single photodissociation mass spectrum of M⁺(L‐Ser)(Trp). Chirality 27:349–352, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.