Determination of the enantiomers of 3-tert.-butylamino-1,2-propanediol by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to evaporative light scattering detection

A method for the separation and quantitation of the enantiomers of 3-tert.- butylamino-1,2-propanediol by highperformance liquid chromatography and eva porative light scattering detection has been developed. Separation of the e nantiomers was performed in normal-phase liquid chromatography on a Chiralp ak AS chiral stationary phase. The influence of the gas nature, gas pressur e and temperature of the drift tube of the evaporative light scattering det ector on the detection sensitivity was investigated. The method was validat ed in terms of linearity, limit of quantitation, accuracy and precision. Th e enantiomeric excess of (S)-3-tert.-butylamino-1,2-propanediol, used for t he industrial synthesis of (S)-timolol, was measured from 0 to 94%. (C) 200 0 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.