Enantioselective separations in capillary electrophoresis with dextran sulfate as the chiral selector

Dextran sulfate, a polyanionic polysaccharide, was evaluated as a chiral additive in capillary electrophoresis. Structurally related compounds having a variety of functional groups were utilized to probe the selectivity of the chiral selector. The effects of pH, chiral selector concentration, and chiral selector composition on resolution were also studied. At low pH, the reversed polarity mode was employed to achieve separation of the probe compounds. The electrophoretic results provided insight into the chiral recognition of dextran sulfate in capillary electrophoresis. Several factors, including hydrophobic, steric, and electrostatic interactions, appeared to play a role in the observed enantioseparations.