Chiral chromatographic separation of β-blockers

A novel amide based chiral stationary phase m-[(+)-α-methyl benzyl carboxamide] XAD-4 has been synthesized by covalently linking R(+)-1-phenylethylamine to chloroformoyl Amberlite XAD-4 under weak alkaline conditions. The synthesized resin has been primarily characterized by m.p., elemental analysis and FT-IR and 13C NMR spectra. β-Blockers viz. atenolol, metoprolol, and propranolol were successfully separated into their enantiomers using a mixture of sodium acetate–acetic acid buffer (pH 4.1):acetonitrile (4:6, v/v) solution using the synthesized resin. Hydrogen bonding and π–π interactions are supposed to be the major analyte–chiral stationary phase interactions.