Enantioselective LC analysis and determination of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors

LC separation of biologically and pharmaceutically important enantiomers (from racemic or non-racemic mixtures) remains a subject of importance. The present review article deals with the liquid chromatographic enantioseparation of chiral selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), namely citalopram, paroxetine, sertraline and fluoxetine. It is now known that the enantiomers of numerous psychotropic drugs exhibit distinct pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetic patterns and receptor binding properties, and psychiatric patients are frequently taking more than one medication. Therefore, monitoring of the levels of these analytes in biological fluids is important to determine the levels of enantiomer concentrations; the present paper may be helpful in understanding the present state of available methods (along with a critical discussion of applicability of the methods) and in developing the new ones for this purpose. Different approaches using LC discussed herein may be applied for determining the enantiomeric composition (and enantiomeric purity) of SSRIs and numerous other racemic drugs, of current/future pharmaceutical importance and utility, using simple separation methods, instrumentation, inexpensive reagents and potentially significant analytical approaches. The contents cover the essential data to understand the various separation techniques and associated issues, if any, with documented examples.