Chiral capillary electrophoresis as predictor for separation of drug enantiomers in continuous flow zone electrophoresis

Separation of the enantiomers of chlorpheniramine and methadone in acidic buffers containing carboxymethyl-β-cyclodextrin (CMCD) as chiral selector was investigated by capillary zone electrophoresis. For a range of pH and CMCD concentrations, the mobility difference and resolution of the enantiomers were determined. Then, conditions known to provide well resolved enantiomers and optimized chiral separation were applied to chiral continuous flow electrophoresis. In that approach, a thin film of fluid flowing between two parallel plates is employed as carrier for electrophoresis. The electrolytes and the sample are continuously admitted at one end of the electrophoresis chamber and are fractionated by an array of outlet tubes at the other. The number of pure enantiomeric fractions obtained by chiral continuous flow electrophoresis was found to be directly dependent on the enantiomeric mobility difference. For racemic chlorpheniramine separated in a betaine–acetic acid buffer at a total throughput of 5 mg/h, complete enantiomeric separation is shown to require a mobility difference of about 3·10−9 m2/V s. Furthermore, compared to the previous investigations with hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin, CMCD was found to permit improved fractionation of methadone enantiomers. With a total racemic drug throughput of about 15 mg/h, continuous flow zone electrophoresis processing with CMCD as chiral selector is shown to have the potential of providing pure enantiomers on a mg/h scale. The results indicate that chiral capillary zone electrophoresis data can be employed as predictor for preparative scale chiral separations based upon continuous flow zone electrophoresis.