Elution behavior of drugs in high-speed counter-current chromatography using on-column complexation with metal ions.

In this study, determination of (nitrogen containing) drugs by on-column complexation with metal ions in high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) was investigated. Bromazepam (BMP) was strongly retained in the organic upper stationary phase (UP) of the two-phase solvent system composed of tert-butyl methyl ether-acetonitrile-water (2:2:3, v/v/v) by eluting the aqueous lower mobile phase (LP) at a flow rate of 2 mL min-1 . On the other hand, BMP (200 µg mL-1 ) was eluted faster without retention to the organic UP with the two-phase system containing 100 μg mL-1 of copper ions (CuCl2 ) because a very polar BMP-Cu2+ complex was immediately formed in the aqueous LP. The dramatic change in the retention behavior of BMP resulted from on-column complexation. The on-column complexation in HSCCC was further investigated for five (nitrogen containing) drugs and seven metal ions. In the result, tizanidine and phentolamine formed complexes with Al3+ , Fe2+ , Co2+ , Ni2+ , Cu2+ , and Zn2+ , ambroxol formed complexes with Al3+ , Fe2+ , and Cu2+ , but voriconazole formed no complexes with all metal ions tested.