Analytical and semipreparative enantioseparation of 9-hydroxyrisperidone, the main metabolite of risperidone, using high-performance liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis

The HPLC semipreparative enantioseparation of 9-hydroxyrisperidone (9-OHRisp) was studied by optimizing various experimental conditions: the nature of the chiral stationary phase (CSP), mobile phase composition, temperature and analyte loading. This semipreparative enantioseparation was successfully completed using the polysaccharide Chiralcel OJ chiral stationary phase and a n-hexane/ethanol/methanol (50/35/15, v/v/v) ternary mobile phase. To assess the enantiomeric purity of both isolated isomers, three analytical methods using UV detection were developed and validated: one CE method using dual cyclodextrin mode and two HPLC methods using either the Chiralcel OJ CSP in normal-phase mode or the α-acid glycoprotein (α-AGP) CSP in reversed-phase mode. The three methods make it possible to obtain excellent enantioseparations (Rs > 3) with analysis times lower than 15 min, and the calculated limits of detection allow for the determination of minor enantiomeric impurities (0.1%). Enantiomeric purity obtained for dextrorotatory and levorotatory enantiomers was superior to 99.9% and equal to 98.9%, respectively, which proved the success of the semipreparative enantioseparation. A brief comparison of the performances of the analytical methods completes this work.