Ramifications and Insights on the Role of Water in Chiral Sub/Supercritical Fluid Chromatography

Influence of theoretical and semi-empirical peak models on the efficiency calculation in chiral chromatography

Height equivalent to theoretical plate (H) equations, such as the van Deemter or Knox-Saleem equations, and other efficiency vs. linear velocity equations (u), provide kinetic insights into chromatographic separations phenomena and column performance. In enantioselective separations, the peak shape of the two enantiomers can differ significantly and are often asymmetric. The peak efficiency calculations heavily impact these efficiency-flow profiles, leading to erroneous estimations of eddy diffusion, longitudinal diffusion, and mass transfer terms. In this work, new asymmetric peak functions are employed for modeling enantiomer peaks based on the Haarhoff-Van der Linde function, its generalized variant (GHVL), once Generalized Asymmetric Gaussian (AGN), and Twice Generalized Gaussian (TGN). The new models (AGN, TGN, and GHVL) incorporate higher statistical moments besides the zeroth, first, and second moments to account for two-sided asymmetry (fronting or tailing). The fit results are compared with the traditional efficiency calculation methods endorsed by official pharmacopeia and numerical estimation of moments from the raw data. Enantiomeric separations of ibuprofen and dl-homophenylalanine were chosen as probe molecules. The results demonstrate that non-linear least squares fitted functions provide better estimations of peak efficiency data even in the presence of high noise. In particular, the generalized models consistently offered the best quality fits for various peak shapes in chiral separations. Conversely, the half-height Gaussian method greatly overpredicted skewed peak efficiencies. This investigation reveals that the commonly held assumptions of peak shape and numerical integration of raw data are highly insufficient for chiral chromatography. The impact of asymmetry on plate height should not be overlooked when accurate data from efficiency-flow rate curves is derived. We advocate for the broader adoption of these new generalized peak (AGN, TGN, GHVL) models because they provide robustness at various SNRs that account for right or left asymmetry while accurately representing peak geometry.

The Impact of Water as an Additive on the Elution of Some Basic Organic Compounds in Supercritical Fluid Chromatography

In this study, water was used as an additive in the methanol-modified carbon dioxide-based eluent for the elution of some basic organic compounds from a hybrid silica column via supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC). The experiments were applied to sulfonamides, propranolol, and other organic nitrogen compounds involving aromatic rings from different classes of amine, pyrimidine, and purine with different pKa values (the pKa values for the studied analytes range from 4.6 to 10.4). The results revealed different responses to the different percentages of water addition. Adding 1~2% of water to the modifier (methanol) led to a positive effect manifested by more symmetrical peak shapes and reduced retention times for most compounds. The key factor for this improvement in the properties of chromatographic peaks is due to the adsorption of water on the silanol groups of the stationary phase, consequently resembling the phenomena observed in hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC). Moreover, the availability of hydrogen bond acceptor and donor sites in the analyte structure is an important factor to be considered when adding water as an additive to the modifier for improving the chromatographic peaks. However, introducing water in an amount higher than 3% resulted in perturbed chromatographic signals. It was also found that water as an additive alone could not successfully elute propranolol from the hybrid silica column with an acceptable peak shape; thus, the addition of a strong base such as amine salts was also necessary. The proposed use of a particular amount of water in the mobile phase could have a positive effect compared to the same mobile phase without water, improving the chromatographic peak properties of the elution of some basic organic compounds from the hybrid silica column.

Analytical and preparative chiral supercritical fluid chromatography resolutions using crown ether-derived column

In this study, crown ether-derived column Crownpak® CR-I (+) was evaluated under SFC conditions using 12 primary amines, and the chromatographic results were compared against eight immobilized polysaccharide-based columns. Crownpak® CR-I (+) achieved a significantly higher success rate. It was found that the addition of 5% water to the modifier dramatically improved the peak shape for chiral separation of primary amines on Crownpak® CR-I (+). The first reported preparative SFC separations on Crownpak® CR-I (+) are shown, offering a new approach for the preparative resolution of primary amines. The case studies demonstrate that Crownpak® CR-I (+) is a very useful column in the chiral separation of challenging compounds that contain a primary amine group in the pharmaceutical industry.

Effect of water and protic solvents on polysaccharide-based column efficiency

In the present study, polysaccharide-based columns were used to evaluate the efficiency of columns in response to the introduction of water and protic solvents (methanol and ethanol) into the mobile phase, replacing acetonitrile. While increasing water content frequently enhances enantiomer resolution, the inclusion of water, particularly when combined with methanol and ethanol in the mobile phase, has an adverse impact on mass transfer, thus influencing the column plate height. These effects are more pronounced with ethanol, and in many cases, van Deemter plots exhibit the absence of a minimum point optimal in the explored range. Consequently, acetonitrile and its water mixtures are the preferred choices to mitigate these effects for situations in which the chiral column is operated at a relatively high flow rate (> 1 mL/min in a 4.6 mm column).

Supercritical Fluid Nanospray Mass Spectrometry: II. Effects on Ionization

Nanospraying supercritical fluids coupled to a mass spectrometer (nSF-MS) using a 90% supercritical fluid CO₂ carrier (sCO₂) has shown an enhanced desolvation compared to traditional liquid eluents. Capillaries of 25, 50, and 75 μm internal diameter (i.d.) with pulled emitter tips provided high MS detection sensitivity. Presented here is an evaluation of the effect of proton affinity, hydrophobicity, and nanoemitter tip size on the nSF-MS signal. This was done using a set of primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary amines with butyl, hexyl, octyl, and decyl chains as analytes. Each amine class was analyzed individually to evaluate hydrophobicity and proton affinity effects on signal intensity. The system has shown a mass sensitive detection on a linear dynamic range of 0.1-100 μM. Results indicate that hydrophobicity has a larger effect on the signal response than proton affinity. Nanospraying a mixture of all amine classes using the 75 μm emitter has shown a quaternary amine signal not suppressed by competing analytes. Competing ionization was observed for primary, secondary, and tertiary amines. The 75 and 50 μm emitters demonstrated increased signal with increasing hydrophobicity. Surprisingly, the 25 μm i.d. emitter yielded a signal decrease as the alkyl chain length increased, contrary to conventional understanding. Nanospraying the evaporative fluid in a sub-500 nm emitter likely resulted in differences in the ionization mechanism. Results suggest that 90% sCO₂ with 9.99% methanol and 0.01% formic acid yielded fast desolvation, high ionization efficiency, and low matrix effect, which could benefit complex biological matrix analysis.

The Enantioselective Potential of NicoShell and TeicoShell Columns for Basic Pharmaceuticals and Forensic Drugs in Sub/Supercritical Fluid Chromatography

The enantioselective potential of two macrocyclic glycopeptide-based chiral stationary phases for analysis of 28 structurally diverse biologically active compounds such as derivatives of pyrovalerone, ketamine, cathinone, and other representatives of psychostimulants and antidepressants was evaluated in sub/supercritical fluid chromatography. The chiral selectors immobilized on 2.7 μm superficially porous particles were teicoplanin (TeicoShell column) and modified macrocyclic glycopeptide (NicoShell column). The influence of the organic modifier and different mobile phase additives on the retention and enantioresolution were investigated. The obtained results confirmed that the mobile phase additives, especially water as a single additive or in combination with basic and acidic additives, improve peak shape and enhance enantioresolution. In addition, the effect of temperature was evaluated to optimize the enantioseparation process. Both columns exhibited comparable enantioselectivity, approximately 90% of the compounds tested were enantioseparated, and 30% out of them were baseline enantioresolved under the tested conditions. The complementary enantioselectivity of the macrocyclic glycopeptide-based chiral stationary phases was emphasized. This work can be useful for the method development for the enantioseparation of basic biologically active compounds of interest.

Supercritical Fluid Nanospray Mass Spectrometry

Supercritical fluids are typically electrosprayed using an organic solvent makeup flow to facilitate continuous electrical connection and enhancement of electrospray stability. This results in sample dilution, loss in sensitivity, and potential phase separation. Premixing the supercritical fluid with organic solvent has shown substantial benefits to electrospray efficiency and increased analyte charge state. Presented here is a nanospray mass spectrometry system for supercritical fluids (nSF-MS). This split flow system used small i.d. capillaries, heated interface, inline frit, and submicron emitter tips to electrospray quaternary alkyl amines solvated in supercritical CO₂ with a 10% methanol modifier. Analyte signal response was evaluated as a function of total system flow rate (0.5-1.5 mL/min) that is split to nanospray a supercritical fluid with linear flow rates between 0.07 and 0.42 cm/sec and pressure ranges (15-25 MPa). The nSF system showed mass-sensitive detection based on increased signal intensity for increasing capillary i.d. and analyte injection volume. These effects indicate efficient solvent evaporation for the analysis of quaternary amines. Carrier additives generally decreased signal intensity. Comparison of the nSF-MS system to the conventional SF makeup flow ESI showed 10-fold signal intensity enhancement across all the capillary i.d.s. The nSF-MS system likely achieves rapid solvent evaporation of the SF at the emitter point. The developed system combined the benefits of the nanoemitters, sCO₂, and the low modifier percentage which gave rise to enhancement in MS detection sensitivity.

Insights into enantioselective separations of ionic metal complexes by sub/supercritical fluid chromatography

Sub/supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) is a green separation technique that has been used to separate a wide variety of compounds and is proven to be immensely useful for chiral separations. However, SFC is currently not thought to be applicable for ionic compounds due to their low solubility in CO2, even with additives and organic modifiers. Recently, a large amount of research has been centered on octahedral complexes of Ru(II) and Os(II) with bidentate polypyridyl ligands due to their ability to serve in cancer treatment and other biological activities. These compounds exist as the delta (Δ) and lambda (Λ) enantiomers. Previously, similar compounds have been enantiomerically separated using HPLC and capillary electrophoresis, but never with SFC. Cyclofructan-6 (CF6) derivatized with (R)-naphthyl ethyl (RN) groups has been proven to be an effective chiral stationary phase for these separations in HPLC. This column chemistry was expanded to SFC to provide the first chiral separation of a wide variety (23 complexes in total) of ionic octahedral polypyridyl complexes. Unexpected behavior for mixing methanol and acetonitrile as the organic modifier will be discussed, along with the effects of additives. Enantioselectivity on CF6-RN chemistry is shown to be dependent on the conjugation level and rigidity of the metal complexes. Mass transfer kinetic behavior is also shown, and high-efficiency baseline resolved rapid separations are shown for fast screening or quantitation of representative coordination complexes.

Quality evaluation of Panax notoginseng (Burk.) F.H. Chen using supercritical fluid chromatography-mass spectrometry and chemical pattern recognition

An efficient supercritical fluid chromatography-mass spectrometry (SFC-MS) method was developed for the quality evaluation of Panax Notoginseng (Burk) F.H. Chen (P. notoginseng) by combination with chemical pattern recognition (CPR). Design of experiments (DoE) was applied to obtain optimal SFC-MS conditions. Several CPR methods including hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) were employed to establish a classification model based on the peak areas and contents of 12 components in P. notoginseng in order to evaluate the quality difference according to the collecting time (Chunqi and Dongqi) and medicinal parts (fibrous root, rhizome, branch root, and main root). PLS-DA has proved to be a satisfactory method with accurate discrimination of the selected samples. The characteristic variables based on the variable importance in projection (VIP) values were selected using PLS-DA. Three characteristic components (ginsenoside Rg₂, ginsenoside Rg₁, ginsenoside Rb₁) with higher VIP values (>1) were chosen to further build the CPR model. Subsequently, the model was verified by testing another set of samples and the results indicated that the established model was satisfactory. PLS-DA models based on the peak areas of the 12 selected analytes in 30 batches of P. notoginseng could give accurate classification. The obtained results demonstrate that the developed method using SFC-MS and PLS-DA has a great potential for the quality assessment of P. notoginseng.

Supercritical fluid chromatography with post-column addition of supporting electrolyte solution for electrochemical determination of tocopherol and tocotrienol isomers

A supercritical fluid chromatography with electrochemical detection system was developed for the simultaneous determination of tocopherol and tocotrienol isomers. The supercritical fluid chromatography with electrochemical detection system was connected with an additional pump to create a flow path to add a supporting electrolyte solution. The supporting electrolyte solution was mixed with a mobile phase in a post-column fashion, enabling the independent control of the separation and detection. After optimization of the measurement conditions, vitamin E isomers and an internal standard substance (2,2,5,7,8-pentamethyl-6-hydroxychroman) were separated within 30 min using a mixture of supercritical carbon dioxide and methanol (99:1, v/v) as a mobile phase and a cyanopropyl column (4.6 mm inner diameter × 250 mm length, 5 μm). For the electrochemical detection, methanol containing 1.0 mol/L ammonium acetate was used as a supporting electrolyte solution and the applied potential was set at +0.8 V. This analytical method showed good linearity (5 to 100 μg/mL) and repeatability (less than 2.5% relative standard deviation (n = 6)) and was applicable to the determination of tocopherol and tocotrienol isomers in nutrition supplements. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Insights into the self-aggregating properties of a solvatochromic probe and interaction with β-lactoglobulin

A solvatochromic benzothiazole compound is designed, which exhibits water-induced aggregation and selective detection of β-lactoglobulin at physiological pH.

Emerging Separation Techniques in Supercritical Fluid Chromatography

Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) has unique separative characteristics distinguished from those of HPLC and gas chromatography. At present, SFC is widely used and there are many applications in various biological, medical, and pharmaceutical fields. In this review, we focus on recently developed novel techniques related to SFC separation including: new column stationary phases, microfluidics, two-dimensional separation, and gas-liquid separation. In addition, we discuss the application of SFC using a water-containing modifier to biological molecules such as amino acids, peptides, and small proteins that had been challenging analytes.

The effect of tandem coupling of NicoShell and TeicoShell columns in sub/supercritical fluid chromatography on enantioresolution

The coupling of columns in sub/supercritical fluid chromatography presents a great opportunity for influencing the separation efficiency and extending the selectivity of the separation system. Combinations of different types of chiral stationary phases could positively affect the enantioresolution if single ones are complementary to each other. In this work, two superficially porous particle (2.7 μm) macrocyclic glycopeptide-based columns, namely TeicoShell and NicoShell, were serially coupled and tested in sub/supercritical fluid chromatography for the first time. The influence of the column arrangement on the enantioseparation of structurally diverse biologically active compounds was examined. The obtained results showed how the column order crucially affected the enantioresolution of compounds tested, but the retention was negligibly affected in most cases. We also demonstrated that single TeicoShell and NicoShell columns are very promising towards the development of highly efficient and fast/ultrafast sub/supercritical fluid chromatography methods for structurally different chiral compounds. The optimized methods for sub-minute enantioselective separation of certain biologically important compounds were proposed.

High efficiency functionalized hydrophilic cyclofructans as stationary phases in sub/supercritical fluid chromatography

Packed column SFC has become very popular for preparative and analytical separations due to the low cost of CO₂, its accessible critical temperature, and pressure, with the additional benefit of a low environmental burden. Currently, there is a shortage of new polar stationary phase chemistries for SFC. In this work, two new functionalized cyclofructan columns are introduced and evaluated for their performance in achiral SFC separations for the first time. Cyclofructan (CF6), a macrocyclic oligosaccharide, was covalently linked with benzoic acid (BCF6) and propyl sulfonic acid (SCF6) groups by ether bonds. Superficially porous particles (2.7 μm) bonded with modified CF6 showed markedly different selectivity than native CF6. In SFC, peak shapes of amines and basic compounds are often compromised. We show that small quantities (~5.7% v/v) of water added to the methanol modifier in CO₂ improves peak symmetries of primary, secondary, and tertiary amines. Efficiencies as high as 200,000 plates/m (reduced plate height ~ 1.8) were observed for benzamide and amitriptyline on the BCF6 column. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of retention times on BCF6 were about 1.4%, and on SCF6 were less than 1%. Amines on the SCF6 column showed plate counts as high as 170,000 plates/m. Tetramethylammonium acetate is examined as an alternative to water in MeOH. A run time of 36 min with methanol, trifluoroacetic acid, triethylamine mobile phase was reduced to <5 min with complete baseline resolution for a set of amines. The new stationary phases allow greener approaches towards solving separation problems.

Enantioseparation of ß2-amino acids by liquid chromatography using core-shell chiral stationary phases based on teicoplanin and teicoplanin aglycone

Enantioseparation of nineteen ß²-amino acids has been performed by liquid chromatography on chiral stationary phases based on native teicoplanin and teicoplanin aglycone covalently bonded to 2.7 µm superficially porous silica particles. Separations were carried out in unbuffered (water/methanol), buffered [aqueous triethylammonium acetate (TEAA)/methanol] reversed-phase (RP) mode, and in polar-ionic (TEAA containing acetonitrile/methanol) mobile phases. Effects of pH in the RP mode, acid and salt additives, as well as counter-ion concentrations on chromatographic parameters have been studied. The structure of selectands (ß²-amino acids possessing aliphatic or aromatic side chains) and selectors (native teicoplanin or teicoplanin aglycone) was found to have a considerable influence on separation performance. Analysis of van Deemter plots and determination of thermodynamic parameters were performed to further explore details of the separation performance.

Sub/supercritical Fluid Chromatography Purification and Desalting of a Cyclic Dinucleotide STING Agonist

An efficient and "endotoxin-free" purification of a cyclic dinucleotide (CDN) STING agonist was achieved to produce multigram quantities of pure BMT-390025, an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), for toxicological studies. A two-step sub/supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) procedure was developed for the achiral purification and desalting of the polar ionic CDN. A robust SFC process employing methanol-acetonitrile-water with ammonium acetate as co-solvent in CO₂ on BEH 2-ethylpyridine was established and scaled up as the first step to achieve a successful purification. The desalting/salt-switching (i.e. removing acetate and acetamide) was conducted using methanol-water with ammonium hydroxide as co-solvent on the same column in the second step to convert the final API to the ammonium salt. Water with additive was essential to eliminating salt precipitation and improving the peak shape and resolution. Due to the extreme hydrophilicity of BMT-390025, 65% of co-solvent was needed to adequately elute the target in both steps. More than 40 g of crude API was purified and desalted producing >20 g of pure BMT-390025 as the ammonium salt which was obtained with a chemical purity of >98.5% and met the endotoxin requirement of <0.1 EU/mg. In addition, >80 g of its penultimate prior to the deprotection of the silyl group was purified at a high throughput of 6.3 g/h (0.42 g/day/g SP).

Enantioselective Liquid Chromatographic Separations Using Macrocyclic Glycopeptide-Based Chiral Selectors

Numerous chemical compounds of high practical importance, such as drugs, fertilizers, and food additives are being commercialized as racemic mixtures, although in most cases only one of the isomers possesses the desirable properties. As our understanding of the biological actions of chiral compounds has improved, the investigation of the pharmacological and toxicological properties has become more and more important. Chirality has become a major issue in the pharmaceutical industry; therefore, there is a continuous demand to extend the available analytical methods for enantiomeric separations and enhance their efficiency. Direct liquid chromatography methods based on the application of chiral stationary phases have become a very sophisticated field of enantiomeric separations by now. Hundreds of chiral stationary phases have been commercialized so far. Among these, macrocyclic glycopeptide-based chiral selectors have proved to be an exceptionally useful class of chiral selectors for the separation of enantiomers of biological and pharmacological importance. This review focuses on direct liquid chromatography-based enantiomer separations, applying macrocyclic glycopeptide-based chiral selectors. Special attention is paid to the characterization of the physico-chemical properties of these macrocyclic glycopeptide antibiotics providing detailed information on their applications published recently.

Effective Separation of Human Milk Glycosides using Carbon Dioxide Supercritical Fluid Chromatography

Carbohydrate purification remains problematic due to the intrinsic diversity of structural isomers present in nature. Although liquid chromatography-based techniques are suitable for analyzing or preparing most glycan structures acquired either from natural sources or through chemical or enzymatic synthesis, the separation of regioisomers or linkage isomers with a clear resolution remains challenging. Herein, a carbon dioxide supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) method was devised to resolve 18 human milk glycosides: oligomers (disaccharides to hexasaccharides), fucosylated regioisomers (lacto-N-fucopentaose I, III, and V; lacto-N-neofucopentaose V; lacto-N-difucohexaose III; blood group H₁ antigen; and TF-LNnT), and connectivity isomers (lacto-N-tetraose/lacto-N-neotetraose and para-lacto-N-hexaose/para-lacto-N-neohexaose/type-1 hexasaccharide). The analysis of these glycosides represents a major limitation associated with conventional carbohydrate analysis. The unprecedented resolution achieved by the SFC method indicates the suitability of this key technology for revealing complex human milk glycomes.

Enantioseparation performance of superficially porous particle vancomycin-based chiral stationary phases in supercritical fluid chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography; applicability for psychoactive substances

Novel psychoactive substances (NPS) are synthetic compounds that have been designed to produce the physiological and psychological effects of known recreational drugs, while circumventing current drug control laws and scheduling guidelines. Such "designer drugs" pose problems in detection and prevention of use, and they are no less dangerous than known controlled substances. Among the various classes of NPS, many are chiral. As they are synthetic products, most are racemates. Not unexpectedly, there is limited information about different the pharmacological and toxicological properties of their pure enantiomers. Hence, fast and reliable enantioselective methods are of great interest. In this work, superficially porous particle (SPP) vancomycin-based chiral stationary phases were used for development of fast enantioselective separation methods for various classes of NPS in supercritical fluid chromatography and liquid chromatography. The NPS tested included pyrovalerones, benzofurans, phenidines and phenidates. The effect of mobile phase composition on the retention and resolution of NPS in supercritical fluid chromatography was examined. The amount as well as the ratios of additives used is crucial for enantioseparation efficiency. Results showed the high enantioselective potential of vancomycin-based columns in both chromatographic techniques; 88% of NPS tested were enantioseparated in supercritical fluid chromatography and 69% of NPS tested were enantioseparated in liquid chromatography. Moreover, under optimized conditions, simultaneous enantioseparations of some NPS were achieved, which indicates great suitability of vancomycin-based columns for this purpose. The proposed methods can serve as guides for method development and for enantioseparation of further upcoming NPS.

Polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases as efficient tools for diastereo- and enantioseparation of natural and synthetic Cinchona alkaloid analogs

In this study, we present results obtained on the diastereo- and enantioseparation of some basic natural and synthetic Cinchona alkaloid analogs by applying liquid chromatographic (LC) and subcritical fluid chromatographic (SFC) modalities on amylose and cellulose tris-(phenylcarbamate)-based stationary phases using n-hexane/alcohol/DEA or CO₂/alcohol/DEA mobile phase systems. Seven chiral stationary phases in their immobilized form were employed to explore their stereoselectivity for a series of closely related group of analytes. The most important characteristics of LC and SFC systems were evaluated through the variation of the applied chromatographic conditions (e.g., the nature and content of the alcohol modifier, the concentration of additives, temperature). The columns Chiralpak IC and IG turned out to be the best in both LC and SFC modalities. Temperature-dependence study indicated enthalpy-controlled separation in most cases; however, separation controlled by entropy was also registered.

Application of chiral chromatography in radiopharmaceutical fields: A review

Chiral column chromatography (CCC) is a revolutionary analytical methodology for the enantioseparation of novel positron emission tomography (PET) tracers in the primary stages of drug development. Due to the different behaviors of tracer enantiomers (e.g. toxicity, metabolism and side effects) in administrated subjects, their separation and purification is a challenging endeavor. Over the last three decades, different commercial chiral columns have been applied for the enantioseparation of PET-radioligand (PET-RL) or radiotracers (PET-RT), using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The categorization and reviewing of them is a vital topic. This review presents a brief overview of advances, applications, and future prospectives of CCC in radiopharmaceutical approaches. In addition, the effective chromatographic parameters and degravitation trends to enhance enantioseparation resolution are addressed. Moreover, the application and potential of chiral super fluidical chromatography (CSFC) as an alternative for enantioseparation in the field of radiopharmaceutical is discussed. Finally, the crucial application challenges of CCC are explained and imminent tasks are suggested.

Chiral separation of underivatized amino acids in supercritical fluid chromatography with chiral crown ether derived column

The supercritical fluid chromatographic separation of underivatized amino acids was explored using immobilized chiral crown ether column CROWNPAK CR-I (+) and mass spectrometric detection. The type of modifier, acidic additives, and the role of water were investigated. Enantioseparation was achieved for all 18 amino acids investigated with short retention times (less than 3 minutes) and average resolution of greater than 5.0. Analysis of enantiomerically pure standards demonstrated the D enantiomer eluted first for all amino acids using a CROWNPAK CR-I (+) column.