METHODS OF ANALYSIS OF CHIRAL NONSTEROIDAL ANTIINFLAMMATORY DRUGS

Although the analysis of the enantiomers of chiral non-steroidal anti- inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) has been carried out for over 20 years, th ere often remains a deficit within the pharmaceutical and medical scie nces to address this issue. Hence, despite world-wide therapeutic use of chiral NSAIDs the importance of stereoselectivity in pharmacokineti c, pharmacodynamic and pharmacological activity and disposition has of ten been ignored. This review presents both the general principles tha t allow separation of chiral NSAID enantiomers, and discusses both the advantages and disadvantages of the available chromatographic assay m ethods and procedures used to separately quantify NSAID enantiomers in biological matrices.