title: Development of an enantioseparation method for novel psychoactive drugs by HPLC using a Lux®Cellulose-2 column in polar organic phase mode.
abstract: Since the last decade, the hype of the recreational use of novel psychoactive drugs is still on its top in entire Europe. Every year, new derivatives enter the drug market and enlarge the broad spectrum of misused drugs. Many of these compounds contain a stereogenic centre and therefore two enantiomers exist. It is obvious that the pharmacological potency of the isomers differ as it is already known from various pharmaceutical ingredients. Therefore, the development of analytical methods for the chiral separation of new psychoactive substances is of great medical and forensic interest. The aim of this study was to establish an enantioseparation method, which is applicable at equal conditions for different drug compound classes including cathinones, amphetamines, benzofurans, thiophenes, phenidine and phenidate derivatives. A commercially available Lux®Cellulose-2 column consisting of cellulose tris(3-chloro-4-methylphenylcarbamate) coated on silica gel was found to be appropriate for the chiral separation of the mentioned drug classes. Experiments were performed under isocratic conditions in polar organic phase mode using UV-detection. With a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile:isopropanol:diethylamine:formic acid (100%) (95:5:0.1:0.1) 40 out of 43 psychoactive compounds were successfully baseline or partially separated. 3-Fluoroamphetamine, 4-fluoroamphetamine and 1-(benzofuran-6-yl)-N-ethylpropan-2-amine were not chirally separated. The established method enabled enantioseparation of a broad spectrum of different psychoactive compounds under equal conditions. Forty of forty-three compounds were separated in their enantiomers, thus this method has a wide applicability for the enantioseparation of novel psychoactive drugs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 1, A-8010 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Taschwer
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 1, A-8010 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grascher
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 1, A-8010 Graz, Austria. Electronic address: martin.schmid@uni-graz.at.
authors.forename: Martin G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Schmid
mesh_terms: D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015394:Molecular Structure; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013237:Stereoisomerism
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs
keywords: Chlorinated polysaccharide-based stationary phase; Enantioseparation; HPLC; Novel psychoactive drugs (NPDs)