Application of thin-layer chromatography in enantiomeric chiral analysis-an overview

Several chiral drugs are produced and administered as pure enantiomers, whereas many others, especially of synthetic origin, are used mainly in the form of racemates. The biological and pharmacological activity of chiral compounds depends on their configuration. The racemic drugs may exhibit quite different activity from the optically pure drugs. Often only one of the enantiomers is pharmacologically active and/or even can be toxic. Since numerous enantiomers have been shown to behave differently from at least one point of view, whether pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, toxicological or interaction, there seems to be hardly any exception to the general rule that a racemate cannot be considered as a single drug entity. A variety of chromatographic methods have been developed for optical resolution recently. Usually direct separation of the enantiomers is carried out on HPTLC chiral precoated plates or on plates impregnated with chiral substances. TLC techniques are a developing branch of separation and quantitation of drugs, both in pharmaceutical dosage forms and in biological material. This review presents an overview of the current successful enantioseparations of drugs by TLC and their potential in the analysis of the drug racemates.