A Rapid, Robust and Ultra-Sensitive HPLC Enantioseparation of β-Amino Alcohols

Enantioseparation of amino acid analogues racemic β-amino alcohols has hitherto been thought impossible without prior derivatization. Method developers of chromatographic enantioseparation often face detection challenge due to low ultraviolet (UV) absorbance of these molecules. A new chiral derivatizing reagent, benzimidazole-(S)-naproxen amide, was synthesized to provide UV detectable chiral moiety for detection of respective diastereomers of eight β-amino alcohols (dl-alaninol, dl-leucinol, dl-prolinol, dl-phenylalaninol, dl-phenylglycinol, dl-valinol, dl-homophenylalaninol and dl-methioninol). An HPLC method has been developed and validated and both the diastereomers were separated within 31 min runtime. Excellent resolution to a pmol detection limit level was achieved. The developed HPLC method for enantioseparation of β-amino alcohols is the first-ever report of its own kind having such a high detection sensitivity.