Enantiomeric separation of 2‐arylpropionic acid nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs by HPLC with hydroxypropyl‐β‐cyclodextrin as chiral mobile phase additive

The enantio‐separations of eight 2‐arylpropionic acid nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (2‐APA NSAIDs) were established using reversed‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography with hydroxypropyl‐β‐cyclodextrin (HP‐β‐CD) as chiral mobile phase additive for studying the stereoselective skin permeation of suprofen, ketoprofen, naproxen, indoprofen, fenoprofen, furbiprofen, ibuprofen and carprofen. The effects of the mobile phase composition, concentration of HP‐β‐CD and column temperature on retention and enantioselective separation were investigated. With 2‐APA NSAIDs as acidic analytes, the retention times and resolutions of the enantiomers were strongly related to the pH of the mobile phase. In addition, both the concentration of HP‐β‐CD and temperature had a great effect on retention time, but only a slight or almost no effect on resolutions of the analytes. Enantioseparations were achieved on a Shimpack CLC‐ODS (150 × 4.6 mm i.d., 5 μm) column. The mobile phase was a mixture of methanol and phosphate buffer (pH 4.0–5.5, 20 mM) containing 25 mM HP‐β‐CD. This method was flexible, simple and economically advantageous over the use of chiral stationary phase, and was successfully applied to the enantioselective determination of the racemic 2‐APA NSAIDs in an enantioselective skin permeation study. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.