Investigation on the enantioseparation of duloxetine by capillary electrophoresis, NMR, and mass spectrometry

Simultaneous identification and enantioseparation of ofloxacin and duloxetine without the single standard and computational calculation of their inclusion complexes

Given the markedly different pharmacological activities between enantiomeric isomers, it is crucial to encourage the stereoselective determination of chiral drugs in the biological and pharmaceutical fields, and the combination of drugs makes this analysis more complicated and challenging. Herein, a capillary electrophoresis (CE) method for the enantioseparation of ofloxacin and duloxetine was established, enabling the simultaneous identification of four isomers in nonracemic mixtures with enantiomeric excess (ee%) values exceeding 5%. This was achieved through the integration of theoretical simulation and electron circular dichroism (ECD), all without reliance on individual standards. Molecular modeling explained and verified the migration time differences of these isomers in electrophoretic separation. Moreover, the correlation coefficients (R2 ) between the enantiomeric peak area differentials and ee% were both above 0.99. Recovery rates were quantified using bovine serum as the matrix, with results ranging from 93.32% to 101.03% (RSD = 0.030) and 92.69% to 100.52% (RSD = 0.028) for these two chiral drugs at an ee value of 23.1%, respectively.

Determining sequential micellization steps of bile salts with multi-CMC modeling

HYPOTHESIS

Bile salts exhibit complex concentration-dependent micellization in aqueous solution, rooted in a long-standing hypothesis of increasing size in bile aggregation that has historically focused on the measurement of only one CMC detected by a given method, without resolving successive stepwise aggregates. Whether bile aggregation is continuous or discrete, at what concentration does the first aggregate form, and how many aggregation steps occur, all remain as open questions.

EXPERIMENTS

Bile salt critical micelle concentrations (CMCs) were investigated with NMR chemical shift titrations and a multi-CMC phase separation modeling approach developed herein. The proposed strategy is to establish a correspondence of the phase separation and mass action models to treat the first CMC; subsequent micellization steps, involving larger micelles, are then treated as phase separation events.

FINDINGS

The NMR data and the proposed multi-CMC model reveal and resolve multiple closely spaced sequential preliminary, primary, and secondary discrete CMCs in dihydroxy and trihydroxy bile salt systems in basic (pH 12) solutions with a single model of one NMR data set. Complex NMR data are closely explained by the model. Four CMCs are established in deoxycholate below 100 mM (298 K, pH 12): 3.8 ± 0.5 mM, 9.1 ± 0.3 mM, 27 ± 2 mM, and 57 ± 4 mM, while three CMCs were observed in multiple bile systems, also under basic conditions. Global fitting leverages the sensitivity of different protons to different aggregation stages. In resolving these closely spaced CMCs, the method also obtains chemical shifts of these spectroscopically inaccessible (aka dark) states of the distinct micelles.

Theoretical electronic circular dichroism investigations of chiral amino acids and development of separation and identification methods independent of standards

Through an appropriate computational protocol and environmental simulation, a satisfactory fit was observed for the theoretical electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra of 19 chiral amino acids (AAs), which correspondeds to the forms of the AAs in aqueous solution. Methods for enantioseparation of these chiral AAs by capillary electrophoresis (CE) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were developed. Combining ECD with chromatographic separation methods, enantiomers were identified and quantified independent of a single enantiomer standard.

Past, present, and future developments in enantioselective analysis using capillary electromigration techniques

Enantioseparation of chiral products has become increasingly important in a large diversity of academic and industrial applications. The separation of chiral compounds is inherently challenging and thus requires a suitable analytical technique that can achieve high resolution and sensitivity. In this context, CE has shown remarkable results so far. Chiral CE offers an orthogonal enantioselectivity and is typically considered less costly than chromatographic techniques, since only minute amounts of chiral selectors are needed. Several CE approaches have been developed for chiral analysis, including chiral EKC and chiral CEC. Enantioseparations by EKC benefit from the wide variety of possible pseudostationary phases that can be employed. Chiral CEC, on the other hand, combines chromatographic separation principles with the bulk fluid movement of CE, benefitting from reduced band broadening as compared to pressure-driven systems. Although UV detection is conventionally used for these approaches, MS can also be considered. CE-MS represents a promising alternative due to the increased sensitivity and selectivity, enabling the chiral analysis of complex samples. The potential contamination of the MS ion source in EKC-MS can be overcome using partial-filling and counter-migration techniques. However, chiral analysis using monolithic and open-tubular CEC-MS awaits additional method validation and a dedicated commercial interface. Further efforts in chiral CE are expected toward the improvement of existing techniques, the development of novel pseudostationary phases, and establishing the use of chiral ionic liquids, molecular imprinted polymers, and metal-organic frameworks. These developments will certainly foster the adoption of CE(-MS) as a well-established technique in routine chiral analysis.

Achiral and chiral analysis of duloxetine by chromatographic and electrophoretic methods, a review on the separation methodologies

Duloxetine (DLX) is a widely used antidepressant drug belonging to the class of selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs); its efficacy has been demonstrated in the treatment of not only major depressive disorders but also diabetic neuropathic pain, generalized anxiety disorder, fibromyalgia or stress urinary incontinence. It is a chiral substance and is used in therapy in the form of the enantiopure S-DLX, which is twice as active as R-DLX. Several methods have been published for the achiral and chiral determination of DLX in pharmaceuticals, biological materials and environmental samples, the majority using liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis coupled with different detection techniques (UV detection, fluorescence, mass spectrometry). The aim of the current review is to provide a systematic survey of the analytical techniques used for the determination of DLX from different matrices.

Enantiomeric separation of ivabradine by cyclodextrin-electrokinetic chromatography. Effect of amino acid chiral ionic liquids

A chiral methodology was developed for the first time to ensure the quality control of ivabradine, a novel anti-ischemic and heart rate lowering drug commercialized as a pure enantiomer. With this aim, electrokinetic chromatography (EKC) was employed and the enantiomeric separation of ivabradine was investigated using different anionic and neutral cyclodextrins (CDs) and amino acid-based chiral ionic liquids (CILs) as sole chiral selectors. Baseline separation was only achieved with sulfated CDs, and the best enantiomeric resolution was obtained with sulfated-γ-CD. Under the optimized conditions, ivabradine enantiomers were separated in 6 min with a resolution of 2.7. Nuclear magnetic resonance experiments showed a 1:1 stoichiometry for the enantiomer-CD complexes and apparent and averaged equilibrium constants were determined. The combined use of sulfated-γ-CD and different CILs as dual separation systems was investigated, resulting in a significant increase in the resolution. The use of 5 mM tetrabutylammonium-aspartic acid ([TBA][L-Asp]) in 50 mM formate buffer (pH 2.0) containing 4 mM sulfated-γ-CD were considered the best conditions in terms of resolution and migration times for ivabradine enantiomers. Nevertheless, as no inversion of the enantiomer migration order was observed when combining CILs and sulfated-γ-CD and a good enantiomeric resolution and efficiency were obtained using just sulfated-γ-CD as the sole chiral selector, the analytical characteristics of this method were evaluated, showing good recovery (98% and 103% for S- and R-ivabradine, respectively) and precision values (RSD < 5% for instrumental repeatability, < 6% for method repeatability and < 7% for intermediate precision). The limits of detection (LODs) were 0.22 and 0.28 μg mL^-1 for S- and R-ivabradine, respectively, and the method enabled to detect a 0.1% of the enantiomeric impurity, allowing to accomplish the requirements of the International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) guidelines. Finally, the method was applied to the analysis of a pharmaceutical formulation of ivabradine. The content of R-ivabradine was below the LOD and the amount of S-ivabradine was in agreement to the labeled content.

Stepwise Aggregation of Cholate and Deoxycholate Dictates the Formation and Loss of Surface-Available Chirally Selective Binding Sites

Bile salts are facially amphiphilic, naturally occurring chemicals that aggregate to perform numerous biochemical processes. Because of their unique intermolecular properties, bile salts have also been employed as functional materials in medicine and separation science (e.g., drug delivery, chiral solubilization, purification of single-walled carbon nanotubes). Bile micelle formation is structurally complex, and it remains a topic of considerable study. Here, the exposed functionalities on the surface of cholate and deoxycholate micelles are shown to vary from one another and with the micelle aggregation state. Collectively, data from NMR and capillary electrophoresis reveal preliminary, primary, and secondary stepwise aggregation of the salts of cholic (CA) and deoxycholic (DC) acid in basic conditions (pH 12, 298 K), and address how the surface availability of chirally selective binding sites is dependent on these sequential stages of aggregation. Prior work has demonstrated sequential CA aggregation (pH 12, 298 K) including a preliminary CMC at ca. 7 mM (no chiral selection), followed by a primary CMC at ca. 14 mM that allows chiral selection of binaphthyl enantiomers. In this work, DC is also shown to form stepwise preliminary and primary aggregates (ca. 3 mM DC and 9 mM DC, respectively, pH 12, 298 K) but the preliminary 3 mM DC aggregate is capable of chirally selective solubilization of the binaphthyl enantiomers. Higher-order, secondary bile aggregates of each of CA and DC show significantly degraded chiral selectivity. Diffusion NMR reveals that secondary micelles of CA exclude the BNDHP guests, while secondary micelles of DC accommodate guests, but with a loss of chiral selectivity. These data lead to the hypothesis that secondary aggregates of DC have an exposed binding site, possibly the 7α-edge of a bile dimeric unit, while secondary CA micelles do not present binding edges to the solution, potentially instead exposing the three alcohol groups on the hydrophilic α-face to the solution.

Chiral separation of asenapine enantiomers by capillary electrophoresis and characterization of cyclodextrin complexes by NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and molecular modeling

The enantiomers of asenapine maleate (ASN), a novel antipsychotic against schizophrenia and mania with bipolar I disorder have been separated by cyclodextrin (CD) modified capillary zone electrophoresis for the first time. 15 different CDs were screened as complexing agents and chiral selectors, investigating the stability of the inclusion complexes and their enantiodiscriminating capacities. Although initially, none of the applied chiral selectors gave baseline separation, β-CD proved to be the most effective chiral selector. In order to improve resolution, an orthogonal experimental design was employed, altering the concentration of background electrolyte, organic modifier, pH, capillary temperature and applied voltage in a multivariate manner. The developed method (160 mM TRIS-acetate buffer pH 3.5, 7 mM β-CD, at 20 °C, applying 15 kV) was successful for baseline separation of ASN enantiomers (R(s)=2.40±0.04). Our method was validated according to ICH guidelines and proved to be sensitive, linear, accurate and precise for the chiral separation of ASN. Properties of the inclusion complexes, such as stoichiometry, atomic level intermolecular host-guest connections are proposed on the basis of ROESY NMR measurement, ESI-MS spectrometry and molecular modeling studies. It was found that the ASN-β-CD complex is of 1:1 composition, and either of the aromatic rings can be accommodated in the β-CD cavity.

Development of a capillary electrophoresis system with Mn(ii) complexes and β-cyclodextrin as the dual chiral selectors for enantioseparation of dansyl amino acids and its application in screening enzyme inhibitors

A novel CLE-CE system with Mn(ii)–[BMIm][l-Ala] complexes and β-CD as the dual chiral selectors based on the synergistic effect was successfully constructed for enantioseparation of Dns-d,l-AAs and applied in screening the tyrosinase inhibitors.