Chiral separation of amines with N-benzoxycarbonylglycyl-L-proline as selector in non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis using methanol and 1,2-dichloroethane in the background electrolyte.

N-Benzoxycarbonylglycyl-L-proline (L-ZGP) has been introduced as a chiral selector for enantioseparation of amines in non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis. Methanol mixed with different proportions of dichloromethane, 1,2-dichloroethane or 2-propanol containing L-ZGP and ammonium acetate was used as the background electrolyte. Enantioseparation of different types of pharmacologically active amines was performed, e.g. the local anaesthetic bupivacaine and the beta-adrenoceptor blocking agent pindolol. Addition of the solvents (dichloromethane, 1,2-dichloroethane or 2-propanol) gave an improved chiral separation partly due to a distinct decrease in the electroosmotic flow. The use of 1,2-dichloroethane in the background electrolyte gave higher precision in migration time (RSD 2.2%) compared to the systems containing dichloromethane. An enantiomeric separation of mepivacaine was performed within 72 s by use of short-end injection with an effective capillary length of 8.5 cm.