Identification of chiral selectors for improved enantioseparation based on molecular interaction fields

Chiral sulfoxide drugs such as omeprazole, lansoprazole and pantoprazole were chromatographed on three chiral stationary phases (CSP), using amylose tris-(phenylcarbamate) derivatives in the reversed-phase mode. The retention factors (k) and chromatographic partition coefficients (kw), obtained by extrapolation of the first according to the linear Snyder equation, were analyzed employing molecular interaction fields (MIF) of eluted analytes. Based on the generated MIF, chiral selectors could be identified for improving enantiomeric separation performance of the respective sulfoxides. The method is useful for predicting the complementarities between CSP and analytes, and thus to help the selection of appropriate stationary phases prior to their preparation.