Enantiomeric separations of drugs using mixtures of charged and neutral cyclodextrins

An overview on the use of mixtures of neutral and charged cyclodextrins as chiral additives for the enantioseparation of drugs by capillary electropho resis is presented. These so called dual cyclodextrin systems can often pro vide unique selectivities. A brief theoretical background illustrating the influence of the chiral discrimination ability and the effective mobility o f the two cyclodextrins on the overall selectivity of the enantiomeric sepa ration is given. Typical examples of applications in the pharmaceutical fie ld, based on the simultaneous use of a charged (cationic or anionic) and ne utral cyclodextrins, are described. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science BN. All right s reserved.