Separation of enantiomeric amines by ion-pair chromatography.

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the separation of optical isomers (enantiomers) of amines is described. It is based on ion-pair chromatography with a chiral counter ion in a system with an organic mobile phase and an adsorbing stationary phase. The method has been applied to enantiomers of 1-aryloxy-3-isopropylamine-2-propanol derivatives (alprenolol, metoprolol, propranolol) which are completely resolved with (+)-10-camphorsulphonate as the counter ion. Studies of the influence of the counter-ion structure and the mobile phase composition are presented.