Quantitative approach for the screening of cyclodextrins by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in support of chiral separations in liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis: Enantioseparation of norgestrel with α-, β- and γ-cyclodextrins

A quantitative NMR approach is proposed for the screening of cyclodextrins with regard to their enantioselectivity as chiral mobile phase additives in column reversed-phase chromatography and capillary electrophoresis. Similarities and differences between the mechanism of enantiomeric peak-separation in NMR and HPLC and CE are interpreted. The affinity of d-norgestrel to bind to (α-, β-, γ-) cyclodextrins in aqueous solution was quantified and compared by determining the association constants from chemical shift data. The association constant of l-norgestrel was estimated from titration of the racemate. Differences between the apparent association constants of the enantiomerically pure drug and the racemate are discussed from the point of view of enantiomeric competition for the cyclodextrin. The apparent association constants and chiral selectivities determined by 1H NMR for dl-norgestrel/γ-CD system at various water–methanol ratios are correlated with the corresponding chromatographic results found in the literature. The pitfalls of previously proposed screening methods based on comparison of chemical shift differences with separation parameters are discussed.