Separation of the four pairs of enantiomers of vincamine alkaloids by enantioselective high-performance liquid chromatography

The four enantiomeric pairs of vincamine group alkaloids were separated by HPLC using Chiralpak AD as chiral stationary phase (CSP) and various n-hexa ne-2-propanol and n-hexane-ethanol mobile phases. (+)-cis-Vincamine, which is used in pharmaceutical preparations, is eluted much faster than its opti cal isomer, with separation factors of 2.4 and 3.5, respectively in these m obile phases. Other CSPs gave negative results. A chiral recognition mechan ism is proposed and circular dichroism spectra of the individual enantiomer s an presented. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science BN. All rights reserved.