Jiří Vozka

Supercritical fluid chromatography as a tool for enantioselective separation; A review

Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) has become popular in the field of enantioselective separations. Many works have been reported during the last years. This review covers the period from 2000 till August 2013. The article is divided into three main chapters. The first one comprises a basic introduction to SFC. The authors provide a brief explanation of general principles and possibilities of this method. The advantages and drawbacks are also listed. Next part deals with chiral separation systems available in SFC, namely with the commonly used chiral stationary phases. Properties and interaction possibilities of the chiral separation systems are described. Recent theoretical papers are emphasized in this chapter. The last part of the paper gives an overview of applications of enantioselective SFC in analytical chemistry, in both analytical and preparative scales. Separation systems and conditions are summed up in tables so that they provide a helpful tool for analysts who search for a particular method of analysis.

Enantioselective potential of chiral stationary phases based on immobilized polysaccharides in reversed phase mode.

Derivatized polysaccharide-based columns have high enantiodiscrimination potential mainly in normal phase separation mode. In this work chiral recognition ability of four immobilized polysaccharide-derived chiral stationary phases was evaluated under reversed phase conditions. A set of 30 chiral compounds, particularly drugs possessing various functional groups was used for testing. Baseline enantioseparation was achieved for 17 of them. In general, amylose-based chiral stationary phases showed higher enantioselectivity than the cellulose-based ones, mainly for acidic and bifunctional compounds. The influence of the type and pH of the aqueous mobile phase constituents as well as the role of the organic modifier on the enantioselective separation ability of the stationary phases were also investigated and compared. Complementary separations were obtained on the amylose- and cellulose-based columns. The immobilized polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases were shown to be useful tool for the enantioseparation of a broad spectrum of chiral analytes in reversed phase separation mode.

An insight into the use of dimethylphenyl carbamate cyclofructan 7 chiral stationary phase in supercritical fluid chromatography: the basic comparison with HPLC.

Cyclofructan-based chiral stationary phases were previously shown as a promising possibility for separation of chiral compounds in high performance liquid chromatography. In this work retention and enantiodiscrimination properties of the 3,5-dimethylphenyl carbamate cyclofructan 7 chiral stationary phase are described in supercritical fluid chromatography. The results obtained in both of the separation methods were compared. A set of compounds with axial or central chirality was used as analytes. The effect of mobile phase composition, that is, addition of different alcohol modifiers and/or trifluoroacetic acid to carbon dioxide, was examined in the supercritical system. Similarly, mobile phases composed of hexane modified with propan-2-ol and/or trifluoracetic acid were used in liquid chromatography. A linear free energy relationship model was utilized for characterization of interactions that are decisive for retention and separation in both techniques. Dispersion interactions showed similar negative values using both methods. The main contribution of hydrogen bond acidity was also comparable for both methods. The propensity to interact with n- and/or π-electron pairs of solutes was significant only in the supercritical system.

Characterization of cyclofructan-based chiral stationary phases by linear free energy relationship

Cyclofructans (CFs), a new class of chiral selectors, have been recently introduced for application in liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis. So far, derivatized CFs have performed interesting separation possibilities for a variety of compounds. The current work is focused on characterization of three different CF-based chiral stationary phases (CF-based CSPs), i.e. isopropyl carbamate cyclofructan 6 (IP-CF6), R-naphthylethyl carbamate cyclofructan 6 (RN-CF6) and dimethylphenyl carbamate cyclofructan 7 (DMP-CF7). The linear free energy relationship (LFER) model was used to reveal the dominant interactions participating in the complex retention mechanism. A set of 44 different test solutes, with known solvation parameters, was used to determine the regression coefficients of the LFER equation under two mobile-phase compositions in normal separation mode. The LFER results showed that hydrogen bond acidity, hydrophobicity and dipolarity/polarizibility mostly affect the retention and separation process on the CF-based columns in the studied separation systems.

Isopropyl derivative of cyclofructan 6 as chiral selector in liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis.

Cyclofructans and preferentially their derivatives can serve as chiral selectors for the separation of different enantiomers/atropisomers. Moreover, the strong ionophoric nature of the 18-crown-6 ether core of cyclofructan 6 for barium cations may be exploited to enhance or modify enantioselectivity. In this work isopropyl-cyclofructan-6 was used as a chiral selector for the separation of binaphthyl atropisomers in HPLC and CE. The data from both separation systems were compared with each other. While in HPLC the chiral selector was bonded to silica gel to afford a chiral stationary phase, in capillary electrophoresis it was freely mobile in the background electrolytes (BGE). This significant difference is reflected in the separation potential of the two separation systems. All five analytes could be baseline separated in HPLC (reversed phase mode) while only one derivative was baseline resolved in CE. This result was attributed to the more rigid nature of the immobilized chiral selector. Addition of Ba(2+) to the mobile phase or BGE improved chiral separations in both systems. The results may help to elucidate the interaction mechanism in these systems with cyclofructan derivatives and to gain some general knowledge of their separation potential.

Chiral HPLC Separation on Derivatized Cyclofructan Versus Cyclodextrin Stationary Phases

Cyclodextrins (CDs) and cyclofructans (CFs) are chiral cyclic oligosaccharides. While β-CD is composed of seven glucopyranose units forming rigid cavity, hydrophobic inside, CF6 and CF7, contain six and seven fructofuranose units, respectively, creating a polar crown ether core. These basic structures can be easily derivatized to form even more potential chiral selectors that enable enantioselective separation of various chiral compounds. Chiral stationary phases (CSPs) based on CFs and CDs that were derivatized with the same derivatization group, either dimethylphenyl or R-naphthylethyl, were compared. A set of analytes with different interaction possibilities was used for characterization of retention and enantioseparation abilities of these CSPs in normal separation mode of HPLC. The results showed that both cyclic oligosaccharide structure and derivatization group influenced the retention/separation behavior of analytes. Complementary enantioseparations were obtained for some analytes.

Evaluation of differences between Chiralpak IA and Chiralpak AD‐RH amylose‐based chiral stationary phases in reversed‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography

Polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases can be used for the enantioselective separation of a wide range of structurally different compounds. These phases are available with chiral selectors coated or immobilized on silica gel support. The means of attachment of the chiral selector to the carrier can influence the separation performance of these stationary phases. This paper deals with evaluation of differences in the separation abilities of coated Chiralpak AD-RH versus immobilized Chiralpak IA amylose-based stationary phases in the reversed-phase mode of high-performance liquid chromatography. A set of chiral analytes was separated under acidic and basic conditions. Differences were observed in the enantioseparation potential of the tested phases. The linear-free energy relationship and additional evaluation of ionic interactions were used to ascertain whether the interactions that participate in retention and enantioseparation are affected by the means of preparation of these phases. All the interactions covered by the linear-free energy relationship were significant for the studied phases and their absolute values were almost always higher for the coated phase. Ionic interactions were found to be more important on the immobilized stationary phase but did not contribute to any improvement in the enantioselective separation performance.

Rapid Supercritical Fluid Chromatography Method for Separation of Chlorthalidone Enantiomers

Supercritical fluid chromatography employing chiral stationary phases is a popular separation technique to perform enantioselective separations. The main advantages of supercritical fluid chromatography are low analysis time, low consumption of organic modifiers, and therefore lower costs and higher environmental friendliness. A novel method for the separation of chlorthalidone enantiomers, widely used diuretic drug, is reported that clearly demonstrates the advantages of supercritical fluid chromatography. The effects of the amount and type of organic modifiers, temperature, and back pressure on enantioselectivity and resolution of the enantiomers were evaluated. The baseline separation was achieved in less than 2.5 min in the optimized system composed of Chiralpak AD column, mobile phase CO2/MeOH 50/50 (v/v), temperature 40°C, a flow rate of 4.0 mL/min, and 120 bar back pressure. Moreover, enantiomers of chlorthalidone were determined in two commercially available pharmaceuticals. The proposed method may be easily transferred to a semi-preparative scale.

Immobilized Polysaccharide-Based Stationary Phases for Enantioseparation in Normal Versus Reversed Phase HPLC

A set of 31 structurally different chiral pharmaceutical compounds was used as model analytes for investigation of the enantioselective potential of two immobilized polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases under normal and reversed phase separation conditions. These chiral stationary phases differed in the polymeric backbone, amylose or cellulose, but possessed the same derivatization functionality. The results showed that the tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) of amylose and cellulose have very broad, and often complementary, enantiorecognition abilities. In general, normal phase separation mode seemed to be more advantageous for separation of the majority of studied pharmaceuticals no matter if amylose- or cellulose-based columns were used. However, in certain cases the reversed phase separation system yielded better results. The combination of these two immobilized chiral stationary phases offers a powerful tool for enantioseparation of different types of pharmaceuticals in the normal and/or reversed phase mode.