Intermittent simulated moving bed chromatographic separation of (RS,RS)-2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)butane-1,2,3-triol

The pharmaceutically relevant compound (RS,RS)-2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)butane-1,2,3-triol, an important intermediate in the production of different antifungal drugs, is synthesized in racemic form. For further use in the laboratory the compound has to be separated into its pure enantiomers. This work describes the different steps required to set up a chiral separation using intermittent simulated moving bed chromatography (I-SMB). Furthermore, the effect of feed concentration on the choice of the operating conditions is presented in the frame of the triangle theory. The experiments are carried out at increasing total feed concentration ranging from 3 to 15 g/L. The results demonstrate that a successful I-SMB separation could be carried out thus separating 4.5 g of the racemic mixture and fulfilling the specified purity specification of 98% for both enantiomers.