REVERSED-PHASE LC RESOLUTIONS OF CHIRAL ANTIARRHYTHMIC AGENTS VIA DERIVATIZATION WITH HOMOCHIRAL ISOTHIOCYANATES

The search for new antiarrhythmic agents has been intense, because the established drugs for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias are neither uniformly effective nor well‐tolerated. Among the recently introduced new anti‐arrhythmic agents are tocainide (TOC), mexiletine (MEX), flecainide (FLE), and propafenone (PRO). Each of these drugs is a chiral amine used clinically as the racemic mixture. We have examined the high‐performance liquid chromatographic chiral resolution of the above four drugs via derivatization with homochiral derivatizing agents (HDAs). The amino functionality of the drugs was reacted with four homochiral isothiocyanates, 2,3,4,6‐tetra‐O‐acetyl‐β‐D‐glucopyranosyl isothiocyanate (TAGIT), (R)‐α‐methylbenzyl isothiocyanate (RAMBI), (S)‐1‐(1‐naphthyl)ethyl isothiocyanate (SNEIT), and (R)‐1‐(2‐naphthyl)ethyl isothiocyanate (RBEIT). Complete separation of the two peaks (resolution factor R = 1.5) was achieved with all four HDAs for TOC, with TAGIT, RBEIT, and RAMBI for MEX, with TAGIT and SNEIT for PRO, and only with TAGIT for FLE. SNEIT was used to develop analytical procedures for the determination of the enantiomeric composition of TOC in human urine and blood serum. The four HDAs offer several advantages over many other HDAs and should be useful in studies of enantioselective drug action and disposition. Copyright © 1990 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.