An improved and validated LC method for resolution of bicalutamide enantiomers using amylose tris-(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) as a chiral stationary phase

An improved HPLC method for determination of enantiomeric purity of bicalutamide in drugs and pharmaceuticals was developed and validated. Baseline separation with resolution ≥6.0 was achieved within 10 min on Chiralpak AD-H (250 mm × 4.6 mm; particle size 5 μm) column using n-hexane:2-propanol (65:35 v/v) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min at 25 °C. The detection was made at 270 nm using UV detector while a polarimetric detector connected in series was used for identification of enantiomers. The effects of 2-propanol, ethanol and temperature on enantioselectivity and resolution of enantiomers were evaluated. The method was validated in terms of accuracy, precision and linearity in the range of 10-250 μg/ml and the r2 was >0.9999. The recoveries were 99.68-100.25% with <1% R.S.D. The limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) of enantiomers were (2.4, 3.0 and 7.6, 9.3) × 10−8 g/ml for (S)-(+)-BCT and (R)-(−)-BCT enantiomers, respectively. The method was found to be suitable for rapid determination of enantiomeric purity of bicalutamide in bulk drugs and pharmaceutical formulations.