Separation strategy for acidic chiral pharmaceuticals with capillary electrochromatography on polysaccharide stationary phases

Application of Experimental Design Methodologies in the Enantioseparation of Pharmaceuticals by Capillary Electrophoresis: A Review

Chirality is one of the major issues in pharmaceutical research and industry. Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is an interesting alternative to the more frequently used chromatographic techniques in the enantioseparation of pharmaceuticals, and is used for the determination of enantiomeric ratio, enantiomeric purity, and in pharmacokinetic studies. Traditionally, optimization of CE methods is performed using a univariate one factor at a time (OFAT) approach; however, this strategy does not allow for the evaluation of interactions between experimental factors, which may result in ineffective method development and optimization. In the last two decades, Design of Experiments (DoE) has been frequently employed to better understand the multidimensional effects and interactions of the input factors on the output responses of analytical CE methods. DoE can be divided into two types: screening and optimization designs. Furthermore, using Quality by Design (QbD) methodology to develop CE-based enantioselective techniques is becoming increasingly popular. The review presents the current use of DoE methodologies in CE-based enantioresolution method development and provides an overview of DoE applications in the optimization and validation of CE enantioselective procedures in the last 25 years. Moreover, a critical perspective on how different DoE strategies can aid in the optimization of enantioseparation procedures is presented.

Enantiomers separation by capillary electrochromatography using polysaccharide-based stationary phases

The separation of chiral compounds is an interesting and important topic of research because these compounds are involved in some biological processes, fundamentally in human health. Among the various application fields where enantiomers are remarkable, drug analysis has to be considered. Most of the drugs contain enantiomers and very often one of the two isomers could be pharmacologically more active or even dangerous. Therefore, the separation of these compounds is very important. Among the different analytical techniques usually employed, capillary electrochromatography has demonstrated great capability in enantiomers resolution. The great potential of this electromigration technique stands mainly in its high efficiency due to the use of an electrosmotic flow (flat flow profile) and on the high selectivity because of the use of a stationary phase. Chiral separation can be obtained utilizing several chiral stationary phases including a polysaccharide derivative. The aim of this review paper is to summarize the main features of capillary electrochromatography and polysaccharide derivatives of chiral stationary phase. It also report examples of practical applications utilizing this approach.

Enantioseparations of pharmaceuticals with capillary electrochromatography: A review

The chiral separation of pharmaceuticals is one of the major research topics in the pharmaceutical industry. Chromatographic techniques are most frequently used in this context. Separations in capillary electrochromatography (CEC) are an alternative and achieved by chromatographic retention and electrophoretic mobility principles. As a result, CEC is characterized by a high selectivity and efficiency. The limited number of stationary phases specifically developed for CEC, the low number of commercially available CEC columns, the frits to maintain the stationary phase, which forms fragile spots in the columns, and the limited column robustness and reproducibility, make CEC not very attractive for industrial application. However, CEC is still applied and studied in the academic field. This review discusses the enantioseparation of drugs in CEC published during the last four years, with a critical view on the reproducibility and the practical utility of these applications.

Analytical Enantioseparation of β-Substituted-2-Phenylpropionic Acids by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Hydroxypropyl-β-Cyclodextrin as Chiral Mobile Phase Additive

Analytical enantioseparation of five β-substituted-2-phenylpropionic acids by high-performance liquid chromatography with hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) as chiral mobile phase additive was established in this paper, and chromatographic retention mechanism was studied. The effects of various factors such as the organic modifier, different ODS C18 columns and concentration of HP-β-CD were investigated. The chiral mobile phase was composed of methanol or acetonitrile and 0.5% triethylamine acetate buffer at pH 3.0 added with 25 mmol L(-1) of HP-β-CD, and baseline separations could be reached for all racemates. As for chromatographic retention mechanism, it was found that there was a negative correlation between the concentration of HP-β-CD in mobile phase and the retention factor under constant pH value and column temperature.

High Throughput Analysis of Chiral Compounds Using Capillary Electrochromatography (CEC) and CEC-Mass Spectrometry with Cellulose Based Stationary Phases

To fulfill the ever growing demand for rapid chiral analysis, this research presents an approach for highthroughput enantiomeric separations and sensitive detection of model chiral analytes using capillary electrochromatography (CEC) with UV and MS detection. This was achieved utilizing a short 7 cm CEC columns packed with cellulose tris (3,5-dimethyl-phenylcarbamate) (CDMPC) or sulfonated cellulose tris (3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) (CDMPC-SO₃) chiral stationary phases (CSPs) applying outlet side injections in CEC-UV. The separation performance was compared between CDMPC and CDMPC-SO₃ CSPs for rapid enantio-separation in CEC-UV mode. In addition, using a high sensitivity UV-flow cell in combination with outlet side injections, the S/N and hence the limit of detection of chiral drug could be improved. The 7-cm packed column was also used with traditional inlet injections for CEC coupled to a low-cost single-quadrupole MS. While outlet side injection was not possible in CEC-MS due to instrumentation constraints, the combined use of a short 7 cm column packed with CDMPC-SO₃ CSP provided several fold higher throughput. Both CEC-UV and CEC-MS with short packed bed has the potential for a simple, sensitive and cost-effective method for enantiomeric drug profiling in biological samples.

Experimental design methodologies in the optimization of chiral CE or CEC separations: an overview

In this chapter, an overview of experimental designs to develop chiral capillary electrophoresis (CE) and capillary electrochromatographic (CEC) methods is presented. Method development is generally divided into technique selection, method optimization, and method validation. In the method optimization part, often two phases can be distinguished, i.e., a screening and an optimization phase. In method validation, the method is evaluated on its fit for purpose. A validation item, also applying experimental designs, is robustness testing. In the screening phase and in robustness testing, screening designs are applied. During the optimization phase, response surface designs are used. The different design types and their application steps are discussed in this chapter and illustrated by examples of chiral CE and CEC methods.

Enantioselective capillary electrochromatography: recent developments and new trends

Since its development in the early 1970s, CEC has been studied quite extensively, but unfortunately its use is still mostly located at an academic level. Reasons for this are the limited availability of commercially available stationary phases (SPs) and columns, along with some practical limitations, such as column fragility, lack of column robustness and reproducibility. Nevertheless, CEC maintains a place among the separation techniques, probably because of its unique feature to combine two separation principles. Also in the field of chiral separations, CEC is often used as a separation technique and already showed its potential for this kind of analyses. This overview will focus on the recent applications, i.e. between 2006 and 2010, in enantioselective analysis by means of CEC. For the selected applications, the used SPs (chiral selectors) and their potential for future method development or screening purposes will be evaluated and critically discussed.

Sulfated and sulfonated polysaccharide as chiral stationary phases for capillary electrochromatography and capillary electrochromatography-mass spectrometry

The applications of polysaccharide phenyl carbamate derivatives as chiral stationary phases (CSPs) for capillary electrochromatography (CEC) are often hindered by longer retention times, especially using a normal-phase (NP) eluent due to very low electroosmotic flow (EOF). Therefore, in this study, we propose an approach for the aforementioned problems by introducing two new types of negatively charged sulfate and sulfonated groups for polysaccharide CSPs. These CSPs were utilized to pack CEC columns for enantioseparation with a NP eluent. Compared to conventional cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenyl carbamate) or CDMPC CSPs, the sulfated CDMPC CSP (sulfur content 4.25%, w/w) shortened the analysis time up to 50% but with a significant loss of enantiomeric resolution (approximately 60%). On the other hand, the sulfonated CDMPC CSP (sulfur content 1.76%, w/w) not only provided fast throughput but also maintained excellent resolving power. In addition, its synthesis is much more straightforward than the sulfated one. Furthermore, we studied several stationary phase parameters (CSP loading and silica gel pore size) and mobile phase parameters (including type of mobile phase and its composition) to evaluate the throughput and enantioselectivity. Using the optimized conditions, a chiral pool containing 66 analytes was screened to evaluate the enantioselectivity under three different mobile phase modes (i.e., NP, polar organic phase (POP) and reversed-phase (RP) eluents). Among these mobile phase modes, the RP mode showed the highest success rate, whereas some degree of complementary enantioselectivity was observed with NP and POP. Finally, the feasibility of applying this CSP for CEC-MS enantioseparation using internal tapered column was evaluated with NP, POP and RP eluents. In particular, the NP-CEC-MS provided significantly enhanced sensitivity when methanol was replaced with isopropanol in the sheath liquid. Using aminoglutethimide as model chiral analyte, all three modes of CEC-MS demonstrated excellent durability as well as excellent reproducibility of retention time and enantioselectivity.

Recent accomplishments in the field of enantiomer separation by CEC

The present review intends to summarize recent developments in the field of enantioselective separations and analysis by CEC. It covers studies published in English language in common peer-reviewed journals within the period between 2003 and 2006. Both, methods making use of chiral mobile phase additives as well as chiral stationary phases for electrochromatographic enantiomer separations, are reviewed. Achievements that have been made on the various column technologies, such as open-tubular, particle-packed, inorganic, organic and particle-fixed (hybrid-type) monolithic as well as molecularly imprinted polymer phases, are discussed.

Polymeric alkenoxy amino acid surfactants: V. Comparison of carboxylate and sulfate head group polymeric surfactants for enantioseparation in MEKC

In this work, six amino acid derived (L-leucinol, L-leucine, L-isoleucinol, L-isoleucine, L-valinol, and L-valine) polymeric chiral surfactants with carboxylate and sulfate head groups that were recently synthesized in our laboratory [30, 33, 35] are compared for the simultaneous enantioseparation of several groups of structurally similar analytes under neutral and basic pH conditions. The physicochemical properties of the monomers and polymers of both classes of sulfated and carboxylated surfactants are compared. In addition, cryogenic high-resolution electron microscopy showed tubular structures with distinct order of the tubes of 50-100 nm width. A Plackett-Burmann experimental design is used to study the factors that influence the chiral resolution and analysis time of ten structurally related phenylethylamines (PEAs). It is observed that increasing the number of hydroxy groups on the benzene ring of the PEAs resulted in deterioration of enantioseparation using any of the six polymeric surfactants. For all three classes of PEAs, polysodium N-undecenoxycarbonyl-L-amino acidate (poly-L-SUCAA)-type surfactants provided enhanced resolution compared to that of polysodium N-undecenoxycarbonyl-L-amino acid sulfates (poly-L-SUCAASS). Several classes of basic and neutral chiral compounds (e.g., beta-blockers benzoin derivatives, PTH-amino acids, and benzodiazepines) also provided improved chiral separations with poly-L-SUCAA. Among the poly-L-SUCAAs, polysodium N-undecenoxycarbonyl-L-isoleucine sulfate (poly--SUCL) exhibited overall the best enantioseparation capability for the investigated basic and neutral compounds, while among the poly-L-SUCAASs, polysodium N-undecenoxycarbonyl-L-isoleucine sulfate (poly-L-SUCILS), and polysodium N-undecenoxycarbonyl-L-valine sulfate (poly-L-SUCVS) proved to be equally effective for enantioseparation. This work clearly demonstrates that variation in the head group of polymeric alkenoxy amino acid surfactants has a significant effect on chiral separations.

Polymeric sulfated amino acid surfactants: a class of versatile chiral selectors for micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) and MEKC-MS

In this work, three amino acid-derived (l-leucinol, l-isoleucinol, l-valinol) sulfated chiral surfactants are synthesized and polymerized. These chiral sulfated surfactants are thoroughly characterized to determine critical micelle concentration, aggregation number, polarity, optical rotation, and partial specific volume. For the first time the morphological behavior of polymeric sulfated surfactants is revealed using cryogenic high-resolution electron microscopy. The polysodium N-undecenoyl-l-leucine sulfate shows distinct tubular structure, while polysodium N-undecenoyl-l-valine sulfate also shows tubular morphology but without any distinct order of the tubes. On the other hand, polysodium N-undecenoyl-l-isoleucine sulfate (poly-l-SUCILS) displays random distribution of coiled/curved filaments with heavy association of tightly and loosely bound water. All three polymeric sulfated surfactants are compared for enantioseparation of a broad range of structurally diverse racemic compounds at very acidic, neutral, and basic pH conditions in micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC). A small combinatorial library of 10 structurally related phenylethylamines (PEAs) is investigated for chiral separation under acidic and moderately acidic to neutral pH conditions using an experimental design. In contrast to neutral pH conditions, at acidic pH, significantly enhanced chiral resolution is obtained for class I and class II PEAs due to the compact structure of polymeric sulfated surfactants. It is observed that the presence of a hydroxy group on the benzene ring of PEAs resulted in deterioration of enantioseparation. A sensitive MEKC-mass spectrometry (MS) method is developed for one of the PEAs (e.g., (+/-)-pseudoephedrine) in human urine. Very low limit of detection (LOD) is obtained at pH 2.0 (LOD 325 ng/mL), which is approximately 16 times better compared to pH 8.0 (LOD 5.2 microg/mL). Another broad range of chiral analytes (beta-blockers, phenoxypropionic acid, benzoin derivatives, PTH-amino acids, benzodiazepinones) studied also provided improved chiral separation at low pH compared to high-pH conditions. Among the three polymeric sulfated surfactants, poly-l-SUCILS with two chiral centers on the polymer head group provided overall higher enantioresolution for the investigated acidic, basic, and neutral compounds. This work clearly demonstrates for the first time the superiority of chiral separation and sensitive MS detection at low pH over conventional high-pH chiral separation and detection employing anionic chiral polymeric surfactants in MEKC and MEKC-MS.

Enantiomeric impurity determination of levetiracetam using capillary electrochromatography

CEC was used to develop a method for the enantiomeric excess determination of levetiracetam, an antiepileptic drug. Different types of calibration curve were evaluated for use in the range between 0.01 and 1 mg/mL when aniracetam was used as an internal standard. The method gave comparable results when only the areas of the impurity were used in the calibration curve. The predicted detection and quantification limits from the S/N were 1.1 and 3.6 microg/mL, respectively. However, experimental results showed that LOD and LOQ were underestimated. Repeatability of injection was demonstrated by the RSD values obtained for retention time, resolution, ratios of the areas impurity/internal standard, and areas of impurity and internal standard individually, which were below or equal to 9.30%. The between-days variability experiments indicated that it is better to make a calibration curve daily. The finally selected calibration curves were used to test the accuracy of the developed method on bulk samples and Keppra tablets containing 250 mg levetiracetam. Both selected calibration curves performed similarly. The one using the internal standard information gave overall recoveries between 88 and 118%, while the one using areas gave results between 84 and 118%.

Preparation and evaluation of C18-bonded 1-µm silica particles for pressurized capillary electrochromatography

Nonporous silica spheres (1 microm) were synthesized and bonded with octadecylsilane functionality. These stationary phase particles were packed electrokinetically into fused-silica capillaries with 100 microm id for a length of 20 cm, which was evaluated by using pressurized CEC (pCEC). The efficiency of the C18 RP column was characterized through the theoretical plates of thiourea, benzyl alcohol, toluene, styrene, and naphthalene. The effects of experimental parameters such as the applied voltage, sample size, pump flow rate, pH value and the concentration of the buffer solution, and the content of methanol in the mobile phase, on-column efficiency were evaluated. Column efficiency as high as 200 000 theoretical plates per meter for naphthalene was obtained with the optimal condition of 70% v/v methanol and 30% v/v of 10 mmol/L phosphate buffer (pH 7.8) at an applied voltage of 10 kV and a supplementary pressure of 500 psi.

Chiral separation strategy in polar organic solvent chromatography and performance comparison with normal-phase liquid and supercritical-fluid chromatography

A strategy, including a rapid screening and several optimisation steps, for the separation of chiral molecules of pharmaceutical interest by polar organic solvent chromatography (POSC), using four polysaccharide-based stationary phases, is proposed and compared with previously reported strategies in normal-phase (NPLC) and supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC). In a first part of this paper, different examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the POSC strategy for fast method development. Optimisation is based on the use of experimental design to map the experimental domain in an efficient way. In the second part, the best screening results, obtained after performance of earlier defined chromatographic screening strategies in NPLC and SFC, are compared to those obtained in POSC. The three techniques show complementary separation results and allowed baseline separation of 23 of 25 compounds. POSC is found to be a very interesting separation mode compared to NPLC, because of the many fast (< 10 min) baseline separations obtained.

Strategy for the chiral separation of non-acidic pharmaceuticals using capillary electrochromatography

In completion of an earlier defined generic chiral screening approach, a generic separation strategy for basic, bifunctional, and neutral compounds was proposed and evaluated. This strategy adds to a previously defined strategy for acidic compounds. The screening experiment of the actual strategy used a mobile phase of 5 mM phosphate buffer pH 11.5/ACN (30/70 v/v), a temperature of 25 degrees C, and a voltage of 15 kV. The selected chiral stationary phases were Chiralpak AD-RH, Chiralcel OD-RH, Chiralcel OJ-RH, and Chiralpak AS-RH, all based on polysaccharide selectors. It was seen that 31 out of 48 test compounds were partially or baseline-resolved under screening conditions. After execution of the optimization steps of the strategy, this number increased to 41, with a total of 21 baseline-separated compounds. Combined with the results obtained from the acidic test set examined in the earlier defined strategy, of all tested compounds 82.5% showed enantioselectivity and 49.2% could be baseline-separated.

Capillary electrochromatographic chiral separations with potential for pharmaceutical analysis

The use of capillary electrochromatography as a chiral separation technique for pharmaceutical applications is reviewed. Publications of the past 10 years that provide a potential practical application in pharmaceutical analysis are considered. Method development or validation, separation strategies, and potential routine analysis by the methods/applications cited are the main subjects on which we focused our attention. The indirect chiral separation method was only used once in CEC mode. In the direct chiral separations, the use of chiral stationary phases was obviously preferred over the use of chiral mobile phases with non-chiral stationary phases. Amongst the chiral stationary phases, those based on macrocyclic antibiotics and polysaccharide selectors were the most frequently used. Monolithic stationary phases also have several applications, but not so extended as those with packed capillary electrochromatography. The considered papers not only describe the applicability of the technique for relatively large sets of chiral analytes, they also showed that various types of stationary phases can be produced in-house in a simple manner. However, to survive as a mature separation technique, considerable time and effort are still needed to solve some disadvantages currently characterizing capillary electrochromatography.