Liquid Chromatographic Separation of Enantiomeric Drugs

Abstract

Enantiomers of many drugs show differences in pharmacological activities and in metabolisms. Since such drugs are often used as racemic mixtures, it is important to determine the amounts of each enantiomer in biological fluids in order to optimize therapy and to avoid undesirable side effects. Recently, chromatographic methods have been developed for the separation of enantiomeric compounds. In principle, enantiomers are resolved in two ways.
(1) Derivatization to diastereomers with a chiral reagent followed by chromatographic separation on a nonchiral column (Indirect method).
(2) Use of a chiral mobile phase or stationary phase which forms diastereomeric complexes with the enantiomers in a column. Because of difference in their stabilities, the two enantiomers are eluted from the column at different rates (Direct method).
In this review, liquid chromatographic separation of enantiomeric drugs is described.