Immobilized Cellulose-Based Chiralpak IC Chiral Stationary Phase for Enantioseparation of Eight Imidazole Antifungal Drugs in Normal-Phase, Polar Organic Phase and Reversed-Phase Conditions Using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Due to the remarkable enantioselective performances of polysaccharide derivatives, immobilized cellulose-based columns have high enantioseparation ability, which can be applied under various mobile phase conditions. In the present work, a cellulose-derived chiral stationary phase (CSP), namely Chiralpak IC was evaluated for enantioseparation of eight imidazole antifungal drugs (miconazole, econazole, isoconazole, sulconazole, butoconazole, fenticonazole, sertaconazole, and ketoconazole) in three mobile phase modes: normal-phase mode, polar organic mode and reversed-phase mode. The factors that affected the enantioseparation were investigated and optimized. Results indicated that the Chiralpak IC column possessed good enantioselectivity in three modes, with all analytes being successfully resolved. In addition, the mechanism of enantioseparation was preliminarily discussed based on the molecular structures and retention behavior of the enantiomers.