Preparation and characterization of mesoporous silicas modified with chiral selectors as stationary phase for high-performance liquid chromatography

Recent advances in chiral selectors immobilization and chiral mobile phase additives in liquid chromatographic enantio-separations: A review

For decades now, the separation of chiral enantiomers of drugs has been gaining the interest and attention of researchers. In 1991, the first guidelines for development of chiral drugs were firstly released by the US-FDA. Since then, the development in chromatographic enantioseparation tools has been fast and variable, aiming at creating a suitable environment where the physically and chemically identical enantiomers can be separated. Among those tools, the immobilization of chiral selectors (CS) on different stationary phases and the chiral mobile phase additives (CMPA) which have been progressed and studied extensively. This review article highlights the major advances in immobilization of CS together with their different recognition mechanisms as well as CMPA as a cheaper and successful alternative for chiral stationary phases. Moreover, the role of molecular modeling tool as a pre-step in the choice of CS for evaluating possible interactions with different ligands has been pointed up. Illustrations of reported methods and updates for immobilized CS and CMPA have been included.

Preparation, characterization, and separation mechanism of a dehydroabietic-acid-based shape-selective chromatographic stationary phase1

Chromatographic stationary phases with molecular-shape selectivity are advantageous for the separation and analysis of geometric isomers. Herein, dehydroabietic acid is bonded on the surface of silica microspheres via 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane to form a monolayer dehydroabietic-acid stationary phase (Si-DOMM) with a racket-shaped structure. Various characterization techniques indicate that Si-DOMM is successfully prepared, and the separation performance of a Si-DOMM column is evaluated. The stationary phase has a low silanol activity and metal contamination and a high hydrophobicity and shape selectivity. The resolutions of lycopene, lutein, and capsaicin on the Si-DOMM column confirm that the stationary phase exhibits high shape selectivity. The elution order of n-alkyl benzene on the Si-DOMM column indicates its high hydrophobic selectivity and suggests that the separation is an enthalpy-driven process. Repeatability experiments reveal highly stable preparation processes of the stationary phase and column and indicate that the relative standard deviations of retention time, peak height, and peak area are less than 0.26%, 3.54%, and 3.48%, respectively. Density functional theory calculations using n-alkylbenzenes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, amines, and phenols as model solutes provide an intuitive and quantitative description of the multiple retention mechanisms. The Si-DOMM stationary phase exhibits superior retention and high selectivity for these compounds via multiple interactions. The bonding phase of the monolayer dehydroabietic acid stationary phase with a racket-shaped structure has a unique affinity for benzene, strong shape selectivity, and good separation performance for geometrical isomers with different molecular shapes.

Chiral Nanochannels of Ordered Mesoporous Silica Constructed by a Pillar[5]arene-Based Host-Guest System

The separation of racemic compounds by chiral nanochannels has attracted extensive attention. However, the fabrication of high-performance chiral nanochannels is still a challenge owing to the difficulty in magnifying the weak chiral interaction to macroscopic properties of materials. Herein, by introducing a l-alanine-pillar[5]arene host to achiral ordered mesoporous silica (OMS), chiral OMS nanochannels were fabricated, which exhibited excellent selectivity (ee value up to 90.2%) to separate racemic drugs with promising reusability and stability. Besides, it was identified that enantioselective separation took place through a molecular-recognition-adsorbed transport mechanism. This work highlights the great potential of chiral OMS nanochannels as a platform for enantioselective separation.

Progress in the Enantioseparation of β-Blockers by Chromatographic Methods

β-adrenergic antagonists (β-blockers) with at least one chiral center are an exceedingly important class of drugs used mostly to treat cardiovascular diseases. At least 70 β-blockers have been investigated in history. However, only a few β-blockers, e.g., timolol, are clinically marketed as an optically pure enantiomer. Therefore, the separation of racemates of β-blockers is essential both in the laboratory and industry. Many approaches have been explored to obtain the single enantiomeric β-blocker, including high performance liquid chromatography, supercritical fluid chromatography and simulated moving bed chromatography. In this article, a review is presented on different chromatographic methods applied for the enantioseparation of β-blockers, covering high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) and simulated moving bed chromatography (SMB).

Cysteic acid grafted to magnetic graphene oxide as a promising recoverable solid acid catalyst for the synthesis of diverse 4H-chromene

4H-chromenes play a significant role in natural and pharmacological products. Despite continuous advances in the synthesis methodology of these compounds, there is still a lack of a green and efficient method. In this study, we have designed cysteic acid chemically attached to magnetic graphene oxide (MNPs·GO-CysA) as an efficient and reusable solid acid catalyst to synthesize 4H-chromene skeletons via a one-pot three components reaction of an enolizable compound, malononitrile, an aldehyde or isatin, and a mixture of water-ethanol as a green solvent. This new heterogeneous catalyst provides desired products with a good to excellent yield, short time, and mild condition. This procedure presents an environmentally friendly approach for the synthesis of a great number of 4H-chromene derivatives.

Periodic mesoporous organosilica materials as sorbents for solid-phase extraction of drugs prior to simultaneous enantiomeric separation by capillary electrophoresis

Two novel periodic mesoporous organosilica materials were synthesized with a neutral phenylene-bridged ligand, 1,4-bis(trimethoxysilylethyl)benzene, one of them using tetraethyl orthosilicate as additional silica source (PMO-TMSEB-1 and PMO-TMSEB-2). A third material was also synthesized with 1,4-bis(triethoxysilyl)benzene ligand (PMO-TESB-1) which use has scarcely been reported. The three materials were evaluated as solid-phase extraction (SPE) sorbents for the off-line extraction of a mixture of seven drugs of different nature (duloxetine, terbutaline, econazole, propranolol, verapamil, metoprolol, and betaxolol) from water samples. Subsequent simultaneous enantiomeric analysis by CE, using sulfated-β-cyclodextrin (2% w/v) dissolved in a 25 mM phosphate buffer (pH 3.0) and a voltage of -20 kV (negative polarity) was carried out. Enantiomeric resolutions ranging from 2.4 to 8.5 were obtained in an analysis time of 16 min. After optimization of SPE parameters, it was shown that using just 100 mg of PMO-TESB-1 as sorbent, a preconcentration factor of 400 with 200 mL solution was achieved, allowing recoveries between 80.5 and 103.1% (except for terbutaline), with good repeatability (% RSD = 2-8 %, n = 5). Analytical characteristics of the method were evaluated in terms of precision, linearity and accuracy with method quantitation limits between 5.6 and 21.9 μg/L. The developed method was applied to the analysis of spiked wastewater samples collected in different treatment plants, with recoveries between 73.9 and 102.9% except for econazole with recovery values ranging between 58.5 and 72.4%.

Propylsulfonic acid-anchored isocyanurate-based periodic mesoporous organosilica (PMO-ICS-Pr-SO3H): A new and highly efficient recoverable nanoporous catalyst for the one-pot synthesis of bis(indolyl)methane derivatives

A new propylsulfonic acid-anchored isocyanurate bridging periodic mesoporous organosilica (PMO-ICS-Pr-SO₃H) was prepared and shown to be a highly efficient recyclable nanoporous catalyst for the one-pot synthesis of bis(indolyl)methane derivatives in good to excellent yields from indole and different aldehydes in EtOH under mild reaction conditions in short reaction times. Moreover, the nanoporous catalyst was recovered and reused at least four times without significant decrease in its catalytic activity. The PMO-ICS-Pr-SO₃H catalyst was characterizred by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetry analysis (TGA) and N₂ adsorption-desorption isotherms techniques as well as field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy. Compared to the classical methodologies, this method illustrated significant advantages including low loading of the catalyst, high to excellent yields, short reaction times, avoiding the use of toxic transition metals or reactive reagents for modification of the catalytic activity, easy separation and purification of the products, and reusability of the catalyst.

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.

Enantioseparation of basic chiral drugs on a carbamoylated erythromycin-zirconia hybrid monolith using capillary electrochromatography

An organic-inorganic hybrid monolithic column was prepared within the confines of a capillary via a single-step in situ sol-gel approach using zirconium tetrabutoxide as a precursor to compose the inorganic backbone and 3-triethoxysilylpropyl carbamoylated derivative of erythromycin (TEOSPC-ERY) as a co-precursor to introduce the organic chiral selector moiety in the zirconia backbone. The resulting carbamoylated ERY-zirconia hybrid monolith (ERY-ZHM) showed homogeneous morphology with well-defined through pores and was tightly connected with the inner wall of the capillary. The column was employed for capillary electrochromatographic enantioseparation of six basic chiral drugs in mobile phases (MPs) consisting of acetonitrile (ACN) and triethylammonium acetate (TEAA) buffer. The effects of composition of MP and applied voltage on chiral separation were investigated by using propranolol as a representative analyte. The highest resolution (Rs=3.33) was obtained with a MP consisting of 10/90 (v/v) ACN/TEAA buffer (10mM, pH 7), 10 kV applied voltage and 25°C capillary temperature. The relative standard deviations for resolution values regarding run to run, day to day, column to column and batch to batch repeatability were 0.41%, 0.89%, 1.80% and 2.26% (for n=3), respectively, indicating satisfactory stability of columns and reproducibility of column preparation process.