Semi-preparative high-performance liquid chromatographic resolution of brompheniramine enantiomers using β-cyclodextrin in the mobile phase

The semi-preparative reversed-phase HPLC separation of brompheniramine enantiomers using β-cyclodextrin as a chiral mobile phase additive is described. Enantiomers were recovered free from mobile phase components on-line by a novel column switching procedure. On a 250 mm × 10 mm I.D. cyano column, a throughput of 8 mg per hour (0.65 mg per gram column packing per hour) was achieved at product optical purities of 88% and above. This was achieved using two passes through the system. Comparison is made with other reported semi-preparative chiral separations using β-cyclodextrin, and the potential utility of the described method discussed.