Analytical and Preparative Scale Separation of Enantiomers of Chiral Drugs by Chromatography and Related Methods

While the amino acids, enzymes and hormones are chiral, chirality plays significant role in the life of plants, animals, as well as the human being. Chirality of molecules is important in various industries, such as pharmaceutical, agricultural, food, electronics, etc. Chiral drugs may have different bioavailability, distribution, biotransformation and excretion, as well as quantitatively and/or qualitatively different pharmacological or toxic properties. Enantiomerically pure chiral drugs have been increasingly developed for the pharmaceutical market due to their superiority from the viewpoints of potency and safety. This is supported by the development of new methods for enantioselective production of the chiral compounds, as well as by the capability of the enantioselective analytical methods to allow a detection and quantification of minor enantiomeric impurity in the presence of another enantiomer in a large excess. The aim of the present review is to provide a short summary of the basic principles of chiral separations on an analytical and preparative scale. In addition, some selected applications for analytical techniques, such as gas chromatography, supercritical fluid chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography, capillary electrophoresis and capillary electrochromatography for the separation of enantiomers of chiral pharmaceuticals published in the last two years are also discussed.