Determination of enantiomeric excess of ethyl 3,5-dihydroxy-6-benzyloxy hexanoate by chiral reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography.

A simple and reliable chiral HPLC method was developed for the determination of enantiomeric excess of a chiral dihydroxy intermediate for the chemoenzymatic synthesis of side chain of statin drugs. After evaluating different columns and conditions, the four stereoisomers of ethyl 3,5-dihydroxy-6-benzyloxy hexanoate were well resolved by a simple gradient elution on OD-RH column, and the enantiomeric excess of the desired 3R,5S-enantiomer was accurately measured. This study provides a simple, rapid, accurate, and reliable method to assess the enantiomeric quality of such important intermediates.