Effect of amine mobile phase additives on chiral subcritical fluid chromatography using polysaccharide stationary phases

Increased retention and selectivity in the subcritical fluid chromatography (SFC) of various amine compounds on polysaccharide chiral stationary phases (CSP) was observed upon incorporation of cyclic amines into the modifier. The retention increases are most pronounced with 2-propanol and are almost absent when methanol is used as modifier. This suggests that the effect may arise from a restriction to the modifier access to the binding site required to effect elution. The effect of the amine additives in SFC does not remain after their removal from the mobile phase. Findings were applied to the development of a 5 min separation of amphetamine and methamphetamine enantiomers.