Investigation of Enantiomeric Separation of Chiral Drugs by CE Using Cu(II)–Clindamycin Complex as a Novel Chiral Selector

The enantiomeric separation of several basic drugs was investigated using copper(II)–clindamycin as a new chiral selector. The results show that the chiral selector allows high-resolution separation of some racemic basic drugs, including tropicamide, propranolol, sotalol, bisoprolol, epinephrine, esmolol, atenolol, and metoprolol. The enantioselectivity was influenced by parameters such as the type of metal ion, ratio of clindamycin and Cu(II), pH of the background electrolyte, clindamycin concentration, applied voltage, and capillary temperature. The optimal separation conditions were determined to be 20 mM clindamycin/10 mM Cu²⁺, pH 9.06, at 20 kV and 22 °C within 25 min.