LCGC Europe-06-01-2007

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is a powerful tool for the enantioselective separation of chiral drugs. However, the selection of an appropriate chiral stationary phase (CSP) and suitable operating conditions is a bottleneck in method development and a time- and resource-consuming task. Multimodal screening of a small number of CSPs with broad enantiorecognition abilities has been recognized as the best strategy to achieve rapid and reliable separations of chiral compounds. This paper describes the generic screening strategy developed at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development (J&J PRD) to successfully develop enantioselective HPLC methods for chiral molecules of pharmaceutical interest.

June–July 2007

This adjustable spanner tool combines with the ease of use of a pair of pliers.

Calibration refers to the process of determining the relation between the output (or response or signal) of a measuring instrument and the value of the input quantity or property. Depending on the univariate or multivariate character of the response (signal) used; either a univariate or a multivariate calibration is performed. The different calibration approaches are summarized in this article.

Research group: Professor Jane Thomas-Oates, Analytical, Environmental and Atmospheric Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of York, York.

Electrospray ionization (ESI), atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) and atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI) are now among the most commonly used techniques for creating ions, especially from small-molecule compounds in solution. They have become so familiar that now many articles only refer to them briefly. Yet each technique has dramatic predictive strength on the outcome and limits of an analysis.

The topic of this month's instalment of "LC Troubleshooting" was prompted by a manuscript I recently reviewed and a question I received from a reader of this column. Both inputs related to the variability of retention times observed in liquid chromatography (LC) methods. Variable retention is a topic that has been touched on many times over the history of this column, sometimes just in passing and other times in depth. Yet, it seems to be a problem that keeps recurring, so I think it is worth considering again.