Characterizing the Memory Effect on the amylose tris(3,5-dimethylphenyl) carbamate stationary phase

Acid/base modifiers are sometimes used as additives in normal phase elution on columns packed with CHIRALPAK® AD®. They affect enantioseparations in ways that are not understood for the lack of systematic studies, which makes the scale-up of preparative separations difficult to predict. Once a column has been exposed to these modifiers, the selectivity of certain pairs of enantiomers may change, for the better or the worse. Numerous molecules that are affected by this phenomenon are listed in the literature. We selected five of them, the selectivity of which changes as more acidic or basic solutions are percolated through the column. The selectivity of ketoprofen, 4-chlorophenylalanine methyl and ethyl esters improves as a solution of Ethanesulfonic Acid is percolated through the column. The selectivity of Propranolol HCl and Tröger’s base increases as a solution of diisopropylamine is percolated through the column. Each one of these five compounds is inversely affected by the percolation of the opposite acid/base solution. We used trans-Stilbene Oxide (tso) as a “standard” to determine the columns stability because no Memory Effect is observed for it (its retention, enantioselectivity, and resolution remain constant). Karl Fisher titrations showed that only slight changes in the water content of the mobile phase occurred, and that a unique water to polymer moiety ratio is important. Analytical studies of the stationary phase suggest that slow protonation/deprotonation of water attached to the carbamate moiety may be responsible for the acid/base Memory Effect. Finally, we showed that the Memory Effect can be minimized by percolating through the column a sufficiently concentrated solution of the appropriate acid or base. Thus, columns that were unreliable for method development, due to the Memory Effect, can now be used. As a result, the need to store several CHIRALPAK AD columns, specific for each condition of the Memory Effect, is eliminated.