Chiral separation of five β-blockers using di-n-hexyl L-tartrate-boric acid complex as mobile phase additive by reversed-phase liquid chromatography

Abstract

A reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method using the di-n-hexyl L-tartrate-boric acid complex as a chiral mobile phase additive was developed for the enantioseparation of five beta-blockers including propranolol, esmolol, metoprolol, bisoprolol and sotalol. In order to obtain a better enantioseparation, the influences of concentrations of di-n-butyl L-tartrate and boric acid, the type, concentration and pH of the buffer, methanol content as well as the molecular structure of analytes were extensively investigated. The separation of the analytes was performed on a Venusil MP-C18 column (250 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 microm). The mobile phase was 15 mmol/L ammonium acetate-methanol containing 60 mmol/L boric acid, 70 mmol/L di-n-hexyl L-tartrate (pH 6.00). The volume ratios of 15 mmol/L ammonium acetate to methanol were 20: 80 for propranolol, esmolol, metoprolol, bisoprolol and 30: 70 for sotalol. The flow rate was 0.5 mL/min and the detection wavelength was set at 214 nm. Under the optimized conditions, baseline enantioseparation was obtained separately for the five pairs of analytes.