J IRAN CHEM SOC
maximum values of resolution at the concentration of
with the mobile phases consisting of: 50 mM sodium dihy-
drogen phosphate buffer, pH 5: MeOH (50/50, v/v %),
5
0 mM (Fig. 1b).
2
5 mM disodium hydrogen phosphate buffer, pH 5: MeOH
Effect of organic modifier on retention
and enantioselectivity
(50/50, v/v %) and 5 mM phosphate buffer, pH 5: MeOH
(50/50, v/v %).
Figure 3 shows the chromatograms of the six profens
using the mobile phase consisting of 5 mM phosphate
buffer and MeOH (50/50, v/v %) at pH 5.
In the chromatographic conditions, 50 mM ammo-
nium nitrate buffer and pH 5, it was found that the elu-
tion strength of methanol is lower than the other organic
modifiers, tetrahydrofuran and acetonitrile. In the case of
tetrahydrofuran and acetonitrile both solvents were tested
at percentages 20, 25 and 30 % v/v, while methanol was
investigated at 40 and 50 % v/v. For all solvents tested, the
retention of the profens decreased with increasing content
of organic modifier. With respect to tetrahydrofuran, all
the analytes were completely resolved for all solvent com-
positions, however, relatively short retention times were
observed for 30 % v/v. In the case of 20 and 25 % v/v, the
retention times were acceptable (<18 min for both enanti-
omers), except for carprofen and flurbiprofen which had a
relatively long retention times, as can be seen in Table 2.
Adding TEA to the mobile phase of tetrahydrofuran
caused a decrease in the retention time of ketoprofen and
an increase in retention times for the other profens.
For acetonitrile as mobile phase (25 and 30 % v/v), the
resolution of some analytes was not complete. At 20 % v/v
acetonitrile, the six profens enantiomers were completely
resolved with acceptable retention times (Table 2).
With methanol, analyte retention and resolution values
represented in Table 2 show that the optimum conditions
were achieved using a mobile phase consisting of 40 % v/v
methanol.
Conclusion
In this work, a column based on vancomycin immobi-
lized by reductive amination to aldehyde functionalized
silica was prepared in house and investigated for the chi-
ral liquid chromatographic analyses of six NSAIDs. The
effects of key experimental parameters on the enanti-
oseparation were investigated. The selectivity, resolution
and retention factors were studied for variation in buffer
pH, solvent composition and nature of organic modifier.
Good enantioseparations were obtained at pH 5 for all
profens investigated with tetrahydrofuran, acetonitrile
and methanol and 50 mM of ammonium nitrate buffer.
Replacement of the ammonium nitrate buffer by a phos-
phate buffer gave good separations with shorter retention
times. From the results obtained, the vancomycin sta-
tionary phase showed high enantioselectivity and stabil-
ity over the pH range investigated (pH 4–6). From these
results it is suggested that the chiral recognition mecha-
nism for vancomycin is due to electrostatic interactions
(charge–charge) between the negatively charged acidic
compounds and the positively charged chiral selector.
In conclusion, the results obtained for all profens show
good separatory performance for the prepared column
without deterioration of the vancomycin stationary phase
incorporated into the silica. The results were reproduc-
ible and therefore the column can be considered robust
and suitable for routine analysis.
The chromatograms of the six profens obtained using
optimum conditions of pH and buffer concentration are
shown in Fig. 2 with the mobile phase consisting of 40 %
v/v methanol.
Effect of phosphate buffer
Although the six profens were successfully separated
using the optimum conditions discussed above, the reten-
tion times of carprofen and flurbiprofen were relatively
long, therefore, phosphate buffers were investigated.
Sodium dihydrogen phosphate buffer, disodium hydro-
gen phosphate buffer and phosphate buffer were tested
at different concentrations with a fixed amount of metha-
nol, 50 % v/v. By changing the ammonium nitrate buffer
to sodium dihydrogen phosphate buffer, it was found that
the elution strength of methanol become weaker. The best
retentions and resolutions were obtained with 50 % v/v
methanol at pH 5 (Table 3). Almost all analytes showed
good separation with the mobile phases tested (Tables 3,
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1
3