Enantiomeric separations of primary amino compounds by non-aqueous capillary zone electrophoresis with a chiral crown ether

The enantiomeric separation by capillary electrophoresis (CE) in non-aqueous media was examined. The enantiomeric separations of eight primary amino compounds including aromatic amines, amino acids and amino alcohols were achieved by CE in formamide containing a chiral crown ether, (+)-18-crown-6 tetracarboxylic acid. The addition of tetra-n-butylammonium perchlorate as a supporting electrolyte to the electrophoretic solution improved the separation efficiency and gave the baseline enantiomeric separation of DL-1-phenylethylamine which has not been separated by any other separation mode of CE yet.