Recent advances in electrodriven enantioseparations

Quality by design-guided development of a capillary electrophoresis method for the simultaneous chiral purity determination and impurity profiling of tamsulosin

Analytical Quality by Design principles using the design of experiments were applied for the development of a capillary electrophoresis method for the determination of enantiomeric purity and chemically related impurities of tamsulosin. From initial scouting experiments, a dual cyclodextrin (CD) system composed of sulfated β-CD and carboxymethyl-α-CD was selected as the chiral selector. A fractional factorial resolution V+ design was used for the identification of the critical process parameters, while a face-centered central composite design and Monte Carlo simulations were employed for final optimization and defining the design space of the method. The experimental conditions of the working point were: 30 mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 3.0, containing 40 mg/mL sulfated β-CD and 7 mg/mL carboxymethyl-α-CD, capillary temperature 18°C, applied voltage -23 kV. Following the assessment of robustness by applying a Plackett-Burman design, the method was validated according to the International Council for Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use guideline Q2(R1). The method allowed the quantification of the chiral impurity and three other related impurities at the 0.1 % level with acceptable accuracy and precision.

Complexation of daclatasvir by single isomer methylated β-cyclodextrins studied by capillary electrophoresis, NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry

In capillary electrophoresis an enantioseparation of daclatasvir (DCV) was observed in case of heptakis(2,6-di-O-methyl)-β-CD, heptakis(2-O-methyl)-β-CD and β-CD, while two peaks with a plateau were noted for heptakis(2,3,6-tri-O-methyl)-β-CD and heptakis(2,3-di-O-methyl)-β-CD indicating a slow equilibrium. Heptakis(6-O-methyl)-β-CD and heptakis(3-O-methyl)-β-CD yielded broad peaks. Nuclear magnetic resonance experiments including nuclear Overhauser effect-based techniques revealed inclusion complex formation for all CDs with the biphenyl ring of DCV within the cavity and the valine-pyrrolidine moieties protruding from the torus. However, in case of heptakis(2,6-di-O-methyl)-β-CD, heptakis(2-O-methyl)-β-CD and β-CD higher order structures with 1:3 stoichiometry were concluded, where the valine moieties enter additional CD molecules via the secondary side. Heptakis(2,3,6-tri-O-methyl)-β-CD and heptakis(2,3-di-O-methyl)-β-CD yielded primarily 1:1 complexes. Higher order complexes between DCV and heptakis(2,6-di-O-methyl)-β-CD were corroborated by mass spectrometry. Complex stoichiometry was not the reason for the slow equilibrium yielding the plateau observed in capillary electrophoresis, but structural characteristics of the CDs especially complete methylation of the secondary rim.

Toward Efficient Synthesis of Porous All-Carbon-Based Nanocomposites for Enantiospecific Separation

Chiral separation and asymmetric synthesis and catalysis are crucial processes for obtaining enantiopure compounds, which are especially important in the pharmaceutical industry. The efficiency of the separation processes is readily increased by using porous materials as the active material can interact with a larger surface area. Silica, metal-organic frameworks, or chiral polymers are versatile porous materials that are established in chiral applications, but their instability under certain conditions in some cases requires the use of more stable porous materials such as carbons. In addition to their stability, porous carbon materials can be tailored for their ability to adsorb and catalytically activate different chemical compounds from the liquid and the gas phase. The difficulties imposed by the functionalization of carbons with chiral species were tackled in the past by carbonizing chiral ionic liquids (CILs) together with a template to create pores, which results in the entire body of a material that is built up from the precursor. To increase the atomic efficiency of ionic liquids for better economic utilization of CILs, the approach presented here is based on the formation of a composite between CIL-derived chiral carbon and a pristine carbon material obtained from carbohydrate precursors. Two novel enantioselective carbon composite materials are applied for the chiral recognition of molecules in the gas phase, as well as in solution. The enantiomeric ratio of the l-composite for phenylalanine from the solution was (L/D) = 8.4, and for 2-butanol from the gas phase, it was (S/R) = 1.3. The d-composite showed an opposite behavior, where the enantiomeric ratio for phenylalanine was (D/L) = 2.7, and for 2-butanol from the gas phase, it was (R/S) = 1.3.

Separation of tetrahydrozoline enantiomers in capillary electrophoresis with cyclodextrin-type chiral selectors and investigation of chiral recognition mechanisms

The recognition power and affinity pattern of various cyclodextrins (CD) towards the enantiomers of tetrahydrozoline (THZ) were studied using capillary electrophoresis (CE). As expected, affinity of THZ enantiomers and selectivity of recognition towards CD derivatives was strongly dependent on the cavity size and substituent type and pattern on the CD rims. Not only were the affinity strength and selectivity of recognition affected by the size of the cavity and chemistry of the CDs but also the affinity pattern. Another interesting example of opposite affinity pattern of enantiomers towards α- and β-CD was observed here. In addition, opposite affinity pattern of THZ enantiomers was seen towards β-CD and its acetylated derivatives, while methylation of β-CD did not affect the affinity pattern of THZ enantiomers. In order to get more information about structural mechanisms of the multivariate dependences mentioned above, rotating frame Overhauser enhancement spectroscopy (ROESY) and computation techniques were used. Significant differences between the structure of THZ complexes with different CDs with both methods were encountered. Good correlations between experimentally determined and computed structure of complexes, as well as between computed complex stabilities and enantiomer migration order (EMO) in CE were observed.

Advances of capillary electrophoresis enantioseparations in pharmaceutical analysis (2017-2020)

Capillary electrophoresis is a powerful technique for the analysis of polar chiral compounds and has been widely accepted for analytical enantioseparations of drug compounds in pharmaceuticals and biological media. In addition, many mechanistic studies have been conducted in an attempt to rationalize enantioseparations in combination with spectroscopic and computational techniques. The present review will focus on recent examples of mechanistic aspects and summarize recent applications of stereoselective pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis published between January 2017 and November 2020. Various separation modes including electrokinetic chromatography in combination with several detection modes including laser-induced fluorescence, mass spectrometry and contactless conductivity detection will be discussed. A general trend also observed in other analytical techniques is the application of quality by design principles in method development and optimization.

Capillary electrophoretic methods for quality control analyses of pharmaceuticals: A review

Capillary electrophoresis represents a promising technique in the field of pharmaceutical analysis. The presented review provides a summary of capillary electrophoretic methods suitable for routine quality control analyses of small molecule drugs published since 2015. In total, more than 80 discussed methods are sorted into three main sections according to the applied electroseparation modes (capillary zone electrophoresis, electrokinetic chromatography, and micellar, microemulsion, and liposome-electrokinetic chromatography) and further subsections according to the applied detection techniques (UV, capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection, and mass spectrometry). Key parameters of the procedures are summarized in four concise tables. The presented applications cover analyses of active pharmaceutical ingredients and their related substances such as degradation products or enantiomeric impurities. The contribution of reported results to the current knowledge of separation science and general aspects of the practical applications of capillary electrophoretic methods are also discussed.

Investigation of the enantioselective interaction between selected drug enantiomers and human serum albumin by mobility shift-affinity capillary electrophoresis

Mobility shift-affinity capillary electrophoresis was employed for enantioseparation and simultaneous binding constant determination. Human serum albumin was used as a chiral selector in the background electrolyte composed of 20 mM phosphate buffer, pH 7.4. The applied setup supports a high mobility shift since albumin and the drug-albumin complex hold negative net charges, while model compounds of amlodipine and verapamil are positively charged. In order to have an accurate effective mobility determination, the Haarhoff-van der Linde function was utilized. Subsequently, the association constant was determined by nonlinear regression analysis of the dependence of effective mobilities on the total protein concentration. Differences in the apparent binding status between the enantiomers lead to mobility shifts of different extends (α). This resulted in enantioresolutions of Rs = 1.05-3.63 for both drug models. R-(+)-Verapamil (K_A 1844 M^-1 ) proved to bind stronger to human serum albumin compared to S-(-)-verapamil (K_A 6.6 M^-1 ). The association constant of S-(-)-amlodipine (K_A 25 073 M^-1 ) was found to be slightly higher compared to its antipode (K_A 22 620 M^-1 ) when applying the racemic mixture. The low measurement uncertainty of this approach was demonstrated by the close agreement of the association constant of the enantiopure S-(-)-form (K_A 25 101 M^-1 ).

Advances in Chiral Separations at Nano Level

Background::

Nano level chiral separation is necessary and demanding in the development of the drug, genomic, proteomic, and other chemical and the environmental sciences. Few drugs exist in human body cells for some days at nano level concentrations, that are out of the jurisdiction of the detection by standard separation techniques. Likewise, the separation and identification of xenobiotics and other environmental contaminants (at nano or low levels) are necessary for our healthiness.

Discussion:

Conclusion:

This article will be beneficial for chiral chromatographers, academicians, pharmaceutical industries, environmental researchers and Government regulation authorities.

Application of Dual-Cyclodextrin Systems in Capillary Electrophoresis Enantioseparations

The enantioseparation of acidic and neutral compounds can be successfully achieved in capillary electrophoresis (CE) using dual-cyclodextrin (CD) systems. This chapter describes how to separate the enantiomers of acidic or neutral substances using dual-CD systems made up of a negatively charged CD derivative, i.e., sulfobutyl-β-CD or carboxymethyl-β-CD, in combination with a neutral one, namely heptakis(2,3,6-tri-O-methyl)-β-CD. An acidic compound (carprofen) and a weakly acidic drug (pentobarbital) were selected as model compounds.

Cyclodextrins as Chiral Selectors in Capillary Electrophoresis Enantioseparations

Due to their structural variability and their commercial availability, cyclodextrins are the most frequently used chiral selectors in capillary electrophoresis. A variety of migration modes can be realized depending on the characteristics of the cyclodextrins and the analytes. The basic considerations regarding the development of a chiral CE method employing cyclodextrins as chiral selectors are briefly discussed. The presented examples illustrate the separation modes of an acidic and a basic analyte with native and charged cyclodextrin derivatives as a function of the pH of the background electrolyte and the concentration of the cyclodextrin.

Enantioseparation, Stereochemical Assignment and Chiral Recognition Mechanism of Sulfoxide-Containing Drugs

The distinct pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of enantiopure sulfoxide drugs have stimulated us to systematically investigate their chiral separation, stereochemical assignment, and chiral recognition mechanism. Herein, four clinically widely-used sulfoxide drugs were chosen and optically resolved on various chiral stationary phases (CSPs). Theoretical simulations including electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculation and molecular docking were adopted to assign the stereochemistry and reveal the underlying chiral recognition mechanism. Our results showed that the sequence of calculated mean binding energies between each pair of enantiomers and CSP matched exactly with experimentally observed enantiomeric elution order (EEO). It was also found that the length of hydrogen bond might contribute dominantly the interaction between two enantiomers and CSP. We hope our study could provide a fresh perspective to explore the stereochemistry and chiral recognition mechanism of chiral drugs.

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.

Chiral separation of 12 pairs of enantiomers by capillary electrophoresis using heptakis-(2,3-diacetyl-6-sulfato)-β-cyclodextrin as the chiral selector and the elucidation of the chiral recognition mechanism by computational methods

Chiral separation of 12 pairs of basic analyte enantiomers including oxybutynin, bambuterol, tradinterol, clenbuterol, clorprenaline, terbutaline, tulobuterol, citalopram, phencynonate, fexofenadine, salbutamol, and penehyclidine was conducted by capillary electrophoresis using a single-isomer anionic β-cyclodextrin derivative, heptakis-(2,3-diacetyl-6-sulfato)-β-cyclodextrin as the chiral selector. Parameters influencing separation were studied, including background electrolyte pH, heptakis-(2,3-diacetyl-6-sulfato)-β-cyclodextrin concentration, buffer concentration, and separation voltage. A background electrolyte consisting of 50 mM Tris-H₃ PO₄ and 6 mM heptakis-(2,3-diacetyl-6-sulfato)-β-cyclodextrin at pH 2.5 was found to be highly efficient for the separation of most enantiomers, with other conditions of normal polarity mode at 10 kV, detection wavelength of 210 nm using hydrodynamic injection for 3 s. Under the optimal conditions, baseline resolution (>1.50) for 11 pairs of enantiomers and somewhat lower resolution for penehyclidine enantiomers (1.17) were generated. Moreover, the possible mechanism of separation of clenbuterol, oxybutynin, salbutamol, and penehyclidine was investigated using a computational modeling method.

Quality by design-assisted development of a capillary electrophoresis method for the chiral purity determination of dexmedetomidine

Dexmedetomidine is a selective α₂ -adrenergic agonist used for patient sedation, while its enantiomer levomedetomidine has no sedative effects. As CE has been shown to be a powerful technique for enantiomer analysis, the aim of the study was the quality by design-based development of a CE-based limit test for the enantiomeric impurity levomedetomidine. The analytical target profile was defined that the method should be able to determine levomedetomidine with acceptable precision and accuracy at the 0.1% level. From initial scouting experiments, sulfated β-cyclodextrin was selected as chiral selector. The critical process parameters were identified in a fractional factorial resolution V+ design, while a central composite face centered design and Monte Carlo simulations were used for defining the design space of the method. The selected working conditions were a 21.3/31.5 cm, 50 μm id fused-silica capillary, a 50 mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 6.5, containing 40 mg/mL sulfated β-cyclodextrin, a capillary temperature of 17°C and an applied voltage of 10 kV. Validation according to the ICH guideline Q2(R1) demonstrated repeatability and intermediate precision of content and migration time between 9.3 and 4.2% with accuracy in the range of 92.0 and 98.9%.

Cyclic band compression in toroidal capillary electrophoresis delivers an unlimited number of theoretical plates with a quadratic growth in time and a constant peak capacity

Analytical instruments able to provide extremely high sensitivities, separation efficiencies, and peak capacities are important for both applied sciences and basic research. It is even more interesting if this can be achieved within organic, aqueous, and physiological solutions without restricting the operation parameters, such as buffer pH, temperature, ionic strength, and background electrolyte composition. Toroidal capillary electrophoresis offers this potential, as was recently proposed and demonstrated. In this platform, the analytes perform continuous round trips inside a fused-silica capillary having a torus-like shape. In the present work, the equations of the number of plates and peak capacity are deduced when on-column cyclic thermal band compression is applied. They are expressed as a function of the number of turns performed by the analyte, axial length of the toroid, number of microholes (reservoirs), compression factor, number of compression events performed per turn, and applied voltage. It was found that the variances of the bands reach a steady state, regardless of the number of dispersion mechanisms present. Consequently, the number of theoretical plates grows indefinitely as the square of time. The expression of peak capacity shows a well-defined limiting value that remains constant over time.

Determination of the stereoisomers in aqueous medium and serum and validation studies of racemic aminoalkanol derivatives of 1,7-dimethyl-8,9-diphenyl-4-azatricyclo[5.2.1.0(2,6) ]dec-8-ene-3,5,10-trione, potential new anticancer drugs, by capillary electrophoresis

A new method for the determination of the stereoisomers, in aqueous medium and serum, of the racemic aminoalkanol derivatives I and II of 1,7-dimethyl-8,9-diphenyl-4-azatricyclo[5.2.1.0(2,6) ]dec-8-ene-3,5,10-trione, which were found in earlier studies to be potential anticancer drugs, was developed and validated. The optimized conditions included 25 mM phosphate buffer adjusted to pH 2.5, containing γ-cyclodextrin at a concentration of 5% m/v, as background electrolyte, an applied voltage of +10 kV, and a temperature of 25°C. Separations were carried out using a fused-silica capillary. The developed method of determining the enantiomers of compounds I(S), I(R) and II(S), II(R) was characterized by the following parameters: a detection time within 10.8 min, a detection limit in the range of 141.2-141.7 ng/mL using the UV absorption detection at 200 nm. Good linearity (R(2) = 0.9989-0.9998) was achieved within the range of concentrations studied. A very good extraction yield of 95.4-99.7% was achieved, and recoveries were carried out from both aqueous solutions and matrix serum. The repeatability of the method for peak areas with an accuracy of the determined concentrations of the analytes in the range of 1.43-1.89%, and limits of quantitation in the range of 432.4-436.3 ng/mL were achieved.

Development of a capillary electrophoresis method for the determination of the chiral purity of dextromethorphan by a dual selector system using quality by design methodology

Dextromethorphan is a centrally acting antitussive drug, while its enantiomer levomethorphan is an illicit drug with opioid analgesic effects. As capillary electrophoresis has been proven as an ideal technique for enantiomer analysis, the present study was conducted in order to develop a capillary electrophoresis-based limit test for levomethorphan. The analytical target profile was defined as a method that should be able to determine levomethorphan with acceptable precision and accuracy at the 0.1 % level. From initial scouting experiments, a dual selector system consisting of sulfated β-cyclodextrin and methyl-α-cyclodextrin was identified. The critical process parameters were evaluated in a fractional factorial resolution IV design followed by a central composite face-centered design and Monte Carlo simulations for defining the design space of the method. The selected working conditions consisted of a 30/40.2 cm, 50 μm id fused-silica capillary, 30 mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 6.5, 16 mg/mL sulfated β-cyclodextrin, and 14 mg/mL methyl-α-cyclodextrin at 20°C and 20 kV. The method was validated according to ICH guideline Q2(R1) and applied to the analysis of a capsule formulation. Furthermore, the apparent binding constants between the enantiomers and the cyclodextrins as well as complex mobilities were determined to understand the migration behavior of the analytes.

Enantioselective open-tubular capillary electrochromatography using a β-cyclodextrin–gold nanoparticles–polydopamine coating as a stationary phase

A novel β-cyclodextrin–gold nanoparticles–polydopamine modified open tubular column was prepared for the chiral separation of enantiomers in capillary electrochromatography.

Number of theoretical plates achievable by a toroidal capillary electrophoresis system

The ability of a method and instrument to separate very similar compounds is related to the "plate number," a number indicating performance. The resolution between two neighboring peaks is proportional to the square root of the plate number. Currently available commercial capillary electrophoresis instruments easily reach plate numbers of a few million. In the present work, a capillary electrophoresis system with a toroidal platform is proposed and theoretically studied with the goal of extending the achievable plate number. In this new system, electrophoresis occurs in a nonstop continuous circulating mode within a closed loop capillary (toroid). Plate numbers upwards of one billion are theoretically predicted. This could resolve hundreds of unseparated mixtures of stereoisomers and other analytes that remain without a method for their analysis.

Strategies for analysis of isomeric peptides

This review presents an overview and recent progress of strategies for detecting isomerism in peptides, with focus on d/l epimerization and the various isomers that the presence of an aspartic acid residue may yield in a protein or peptide. While mass spectrometry has become a majorly used method of choice within proteomics, isomerism is inherently difficult to analyze because it is a modification that does not yield any change in mass of the analyte. Here, several techniques used for analysis of peptide isomerism are discussed, including enzymatic assays, liquid chromatography, and capillary electrophoresis. Recent progress in method development using mass spectrometry is also discussed, including labeling strategies, fragmentation techniques, and ion-mobility spectrometry.

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 NH₄ OAc 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.

Carbamoylated azithromycin incorporated zirconia hybrid monolith for enantioseparation of acidic chiral drugs using non-aqueous capillary electrochromatography

Carbamoylated derivatives of two antibiotics, namely, clindamycin phosphate (CLIP) and erythromycin (ERY) were successfully employed as co-precursors, in combination of zirconium tetrabutoxide as a precursor, to prepare chiral organic-zirconia hybrid monoliths (i.e., CLIP-ZHMs and ERY-ZHMs, respectively) via a single-step in-situ sol-gel approach in our previous works. Their superiority over chiral organic-zirconia/silica monoliths, prepared by post-modification approach, in terms of better enantioresolution and enhanced stability inspired us to prepare ZHMs based on an another antibiotic, azithromycin (i.e., AZI-ZHMs). Monolithic columns were employed for capillary electrochromatographic enantioseparation of acidic chiral drugs in mobile phases consisting of acetonitrile (ACN) and methanol (MeOH) as organic modifiers, and acetic acid (AcOH) and triethylamine (TEA) as electrolytes. The effects of composition of mobile phase and applied voltage on chiral separation were investigated by using ketoprofen as a representative analyte. Baseline resolutions were obtained for six acidic drugs in mobile phase consisting of 80/20 (v/v) ACN/MeOH with 300mM AcOH and 10mM TEA at a 10kV applied voltage and 25°C capillary temperature. The relative standard deviations for resolution values regarding column to column and batch to batch repeatability were less than 2.5% (for n=3) under optimized conditions, indicating satisfactory stability of the columns and reproducibility of the column preparation process.

Determination of the stereoisomeric impurities of sitafloxacin by capillary electrophoresis with dual chiral additives

Because of the bioactivity against the human topoisomerase II, the stereoisomeric impurities of sitafloxacin should be controlled in the process of manufactory. In the present work, a capillary electrophoresis (CE) method was developed and validated for simultaneous determination of three stereoisomeric impurities of sitafloxacin. The separation with high resolution not only for the separation of enantiomers, but also for the separation of diastereoisomers was achieved by using a background electrolyte composed of dual chiral selectors, namely γ-cyclodextrin (γ-CD) and Cu²⁺-d-phenylalanine (D-Phe) complex. The combination of two chiral selectors is indispensable to gain a high separation selectivity due to the cooperativity effect of different chiral discrimination modes: inclusion complexation (γ-CD) and ligand exchange (Cu²⁺-d-Phe). The concentrations of γ-CD, Cu²⁺ and D-Phe were found to be critical to the separation. Because two chiral selectors were involved in the enantiomer separation system, multiple factors and their interaction should be simultaneously optimized by using the response surface methodology (RSM) with a face centred central composite design (FCCD). The obtained optimized separation conditions were as follows: 15mmol/L dipotassium hydrogenphosphate solution (pH 4.5) containing 15mmol/L D-Phe, 20mmol/L CuSO₄ and 20mmol/L γ-CD, separation voltage 15kV. The method was then validated and the robustness of the method was tested. Under the optimized conditions, as low as 0.1% (m/m) stereoisomeric impurities of sitafloxacin can be determined by the method.

Escherichia coli adhesive coating as a chiral stationary phase for open tubular capillary electrochromatography enantioseparation

Bacteria, the microorganism with intrinsic chirality, have numerous fascinating chiral phenomena such as various chirality-triggered biological processes and behaviors. Herein, bacteria were firstly explored as novel chiral stationary phases in open-tubular capillary electrochromatography (OT-CEC) for enantioseparation of fluoroquinolone enantiomers and simultaneous separation of six fluoroquinolone antibiotics. The model strain, i.e. non-pathogenic Escherichia coli (E. coli) DH5α, was adhered onto the inner surface of positively charged polyethyleneimine (PEI) modified capillaries based on the bacterial adhesion characteristics and strong electrostatic interaction. The morphology and thickness of the bacteria adhesive coatings in the capillary were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Baseline separation of ofloxacin and partial separation of lomefloxacin enantiomers could be achieved by the E. coli coated columns. The preparation parameters including the coating time and concentration of bacteria that affecting the chiral resolution were intensively investigated. The electrophoretic parameters, including pH, buffer concentration and applied voltage, were also optimized. The developed method was validated (linearity, LOD, LOQ, intra-day, inter-day and column-to-column repeatability and recovery) and successfully utilized for the quantitative analysis of ofloxacin enantiomers in the ofloxacin tablets. Moreover, only a slight decrease in the separation efficiency was observed after 90 consecutive runs on the E. coli@capillary. These results demonstrated that bacteria are promising stationary phases for chiral separation in CEC.

Use of various β-cyclodextrin derivatives as chiral selectors for the enantiomeric separation of ofloxacin and its five related substances by capillary electrophoresis

A capillary electrophoretic method for the enantioseparation of ofloxacin and its five related substances (potential impurities, indicated as impurities B-F) was developed using β-cyclodextrin derivatives as chiral selectors. To our knowledge, there are no previous studies about using capillary electrophoresis for the separation of impurities B-D. Six β-cyclodextrin derivatives including cationic (piperidine- and cyclohexylamine-), neutral (dimethyl- and hydroxypropyl-), and anionic (carboxymethyl- and sulfated-) β-cyclodextrin derivatives were tested and operational parameters such as buffer pH and concentration of β-cyclodextrin derivatives were investigated. The best resolutions were all obtained with anionic β-cyclodextrin derivatives: ofloxacin, impurities C-F could be best resolved with carboxymethyl-β-cyclodextrin at satisfactory resolutions of 8.27, 9.98, 5.92, 8.49 and 6.78, respectively, while for impurity B, a particularly impressive resolution value, up to 21.38, was observed using sulfated-β-cyclodextrin. The enhancement of enantioseparation observed for the tested analytes using anionic β-cyclodextrin derivatives might be due to some favorable interaction between selectors and analytes. Given the fact that the selection of chiral selector depends on the structures of analytes, with the help of structural similarities and differences of the analytes, the structure-separation relationship was further discussed.

Integrated on-chip mass spectrometry reaction monitoring in microfluidic devices containing porous polymer monolithic columns

Chip-based microfluidics enable the seamless integration of different functions into single devices. Here, we present microfluidic chips containing porous polymer monolithic columns as a means to facilitate chemical transformations as well as both downstream chromatographic separation and mass spectrometric analysis. Rapid liquid phase lithography prototyping creates the multifunctional device economically.

Enantioseparation of the constituents involved in the phenylalanine-tyrosine metabolic pathway by capillary electrophoresis tandem mass spectrometry

Catecholamines dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine are well-known neurotransmitters playing different roles in the nervous and endocrine system. These compounds are biologically synthesized in the phenylalanine-tyrosine pathway which consists on the successive conversion of l-phenylalanine into l-tyrosine, l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA), dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine. This work describes the development of an enantioselective CE-ESI-MS² methodology enabling, for the first time, the simultaneous enantioseparation of all the constituents involved in the Phe-Tyr metabolic pathway, since all these compounds except dopamine are chiral. The developed method was based on the use of a dual CDs system formed by 180mM of methyl-β-CD and 40mM of 2-hydroxypropyl-β-CD dissolved in 2M formic acid (pH 1.2) and presented the advantage of avoiding the use of any time-consuming labelling procedure. LODs ranged from 40 to 150nM and the unequivocal identification of the compounds investigated was achieved through their MS² spectra. The applicability of this methodology to the analysis of biological samples (rat plasma) was also demonstrated.