Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic separation of some 2-arylpropionic acids using vancomycin as chiral stationary phase

A rapid, sensitive and reproducible HPLC method has been developed for enantioseparation of six non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which are acidic compounds: carprofen, fenoprofen, flurbiprofen, ibuprofen, indoprofen and ketoprofen. The effects of the mobile phase composition on retention times and resolutions of the analytes were studied. A column based on vancomycin immobilized by reductive amination to aldehyde functionalised silica was prepared in house and used. The prepared sorbent shows a great stability and selectivity over a range of pH (4-6), and the separation was carried out using the mobile phase composed of a mixture of 40 % of methanol in ammonium nitrate buffer (50 mM) at pH 5.0. Another mobile phase consisted of 50 % of methanol in phosphate buffer (5 mM) at pH 5.0 was also prepared and tested. The two mobile phases are the optimum conditions obtained. All experiments were conducted at flow rate 0.6 ml/min, using a UV detector wavelength at lambda = 254 nm.