Chiral stationary phases for the liquid chromatographic separation of pharmaceuticals

Biological systems exhibit remarkable enantioselectivity which is important in biosynthesis, metabolism, storage and transport processes. It is, therefore, not surprising that the chirality of, for example, pharmaceuticals, pesticides and agrochemicals, has become the focus of extensive research in many laboratories throughout the world. Chiral liquid chromatography is currently very popular for enantiomeric separations since the selectivities afforded by a wide range of commercially available chiral phases enable the separations of many classes of compounds to be routine. This paper discusses the most important types of chiral phases currently in use and reviews their applications to the analysis of compounds of pharmacological interest.