CHROMATOGRAPHIC DETERMINATION OF ENANTIOMERIC PURITY BY ACHIRAL MEANS

A chromatographic method for determination of the enantiopurity of a c hiral analyte using achiral reagents is described. The analyte is firs t converted to diastereomers utilizing either dimerization reactions o f the analyte or a bifunctional (achiral) reagent. The diastereomers t hus obtained constitute a meso compound and a dl pair, e.g. two epimer ic pairs. The epimeric pairs are separated by HPLC on a C-18 (achiral) column. A mathematical equation was derived for determination of enan tiomeric purity utilising the peak areas of the eluted epimers. This m ethod takes into account differences in both reaction rates of the for mation of the epimers and differences in their detector responses. The minimum amount of enantiomeric impurities (in the analytes studied) t hat could be detected by this method was approximately 0.002%.