Chiral separation by ligand-exchange

Abstract

The principle of chiral ligand-exchange, introduced by Davankov, has become a widely used technique for chiral separation in both chromatography and in electromigration techniques. This simple technique makes use of the formation of mixed metal chelate complexes between a chiral selector and both enantiomers of an analyte. In HPLC, the chiral selector can be either bonded to the stationary phase or added to the mobile phase. In CE the chiral selector is simply added to the electrolyte. A relatively new approach represents CEC, where capillaries contain a chiral stationary phase. More than thousand papers appeared in the field of chiral ligand-exchange. To cite all papers would require several books. The present article gives an overview of both milestones and our activities on chiral separation using the principle of ligand-exchange. Recent advances in chip technology for chiral separations and new approaches regarding improvement of detection sensitivity are mentioned.

Keywords

• ligand-exchange
• chiral selectors
• chemically bonded phases
• dynamically coated phases
• monolithic phases
• hplc
• capillary electrophoresis
• capillary electrochromatography