Chromatographic methods for optical purity determination of drugs

Current awareness of the different actions that may be exerted by the two enantiomers of a racemic drug has prompted an increasing interest in chromatographic methods to determine enantiomer composition on a small scale. Of particular interest in this respect is the possibility of using columns containing chiral stationary phases which directly separate the enantiomers. The intensive ongoing research in this field has led to a number of commercially available columns for both gas and liquid chromatography suitable for this purpose. Since most drugs are favourably determined by reversed-phase liquid chromatography, columns containing chiral stationary phases which can be operated in the same mode, are of particular interest. Some of the most recent achievements in this area are highlighted in this paper.