| Abstract: | If a stationary phase A employed in gas chromatography possesses a chemical affinity for substance B, which is to be separated, then the retention behavior is not only determined by the normal physical equilibrium between the gas and liquid phases but also by the chemical equilibrium A + B ? AB. If A and B are chiral and A is present in optically active form while B is a racemic mixture, then it is possible to achieve a gas chromatographic enantiomer resolution without the isolation of diastereomers: the energetically different diastereomeric associates AR BR and AR BS are formed rapidly and reversibly. This enantiospecific resolution principle was first demonstrated in 1966 by the quantitative resolution of racemic amino acid derivatives on optically active peptide phases in analogy to the well-known stereospecificity of enzymes. The anchoring of the chiral resolving agent to thermally stable polysiloxanes together with the employment of high resolution capillary columns and the use of appropriate derivatization strategies has led to the development of enantiomer resolution into a routine modern method for many classes of substances. The demonstration of enantiospecificity in the gas chromatographic separation process is of fundamental interest, and its systematic study can result in a significant contribution to the understanding of the molecular mechanism of “chiral recognition”. The gas chromatographic separation of enantiomers has also proven to be an accurate and sensitive method for the determination of the enantiomeric composition of natural products and products of enantioselective transformations (asymmetric syntheses, “chiral pool” transformations, kinetic resolutions, biomimetic reactions) and for the quantification of racemization, e.g. in the synthesis and hydrolysis of peptides. In any research program devoted to the phenomenon of chirality, the gas chromatographic separation of the enantiomers of volatile compounds constitutes an indispensable modern instrumental technique. |
