Direct enantiomeric resolution of some 2-arylpropionic acids using (-)-brucine-impregnated thin-layer chromatography

Direct enantioseparation of (+/-)-ibuprofen and (+/-)-flurbiprofen was achieved by two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography on silica gel plates impregnated with optically pure (-)-brucine as chiral selector. The solvent systems that were successful in resolving both the compounds were acetonitrile-methanol (16:3 v/v) for the first dimension and acetonitrile-methanol-water (16:3:0.4, v/v) for the second dimension. Iodine vapour was used for detection; the detection limit for both (+/-)-ibuprofen and (+/-)-flurbiprofen was 0.1 microgram.