Separation and elution order of the enantiomers of some β-agonists using polysaccharide-based chiral columns and normal phase eluents by high-performance liquid chromatography

In this study separation of enantiomers of 8 chiral β-agonists were studied on 6 polysaccharide-based chiral columns in polar-organic and alcohol-hydrocarbon mobile phases. No separation of enantiomers was observed on any column with polar-organic mobile phase eluents such as pure methanol, ethanol or acetonitrile. Most of the chiral analytes were resolved into enantiomers when alcohol-hydrocarbon type mobile phases were used. The most successful column was Lux Cellulose-2 on which all 8 chiral analytes were baseline resolved into enantiomers at least with one mobile phase used. The reversal of enantiomer elution order was observed dependent on the chemistry of the chiral selector and the composition of the mobile phase.