High Throughput Analysis of Chiral Compounds Using Capillary Electrochromatography (CEC) and CEC-Mass Spectrometry with Cellulose Based Stationary Phases

To fulfill the ever-growing demand for rapid chiral analysis, this research presents an approach for high throughput enantiomeric separations and sensitive detection of model chiral analytes using capillary electrochromatography (CEC) with UV and MS detection. This was achieved utilizing a short 7 cm CEC columns packed with cellulose tris (3,5-dimethyl-phenylcarbamate) (CDMPC) or sulfonated cellulose tris (3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) (CDMPC-SO3) chiral stationary phases (CSPs) applying outlet side injections in CEC-UV. The separation performance was compared between CDMPC and CDMPC-SO3 CSPs for rapid enantio-separation in CEC-UV mode. In addition, using a high sensitivity UV-flow cell in combination with outlet side injections, the S/N and hence the limit of detection of the chiral drug could be improved. The 7-cm packed column was also used with traditional inlet injections for CEC coupled to a low-cost single-quadrupole MS. While outlet side injection was not possible in CEC-MS due to instrumentation constraints, the combined use of a short 7 cm column packed with CDMPC-SO3 CSP provided several fold higher throughput. Both CEC-UV and CEC-MS with short packed bed has the potential for a simple, sensitive and cost-effective method for enantiomeric drug profiling in biological samples.