Determination of absolute configuration of ketamine enantiomers by HPLC-CD-UV technique

Recognizing that the stereochemical structure of NMDA receptor antagonist k etamine provides valuable data about the relationship between its conformat ion and absolute configuration by CD-UV analysis, a method for the identifi cation of ketamine enantiomers is proposed which avoids the need for authen tic samples of the enantiomers. The ketamine enantiomers were separated by HPLC using Chiralcel OJ stationary phase. The in situ registration of CD an d UV spectra, together with the application of the octant rule for cyclohex anone derivatives, makes possible the direct assignment of the eluted ketam ine enantiomers. Chirality 11:741-744, 1999. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.