Enantiomeric separation of glycidyl tosylate by CE: application to the study of catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of allyl alcohol.

A CE method using CDs as chiral selectors was developed and validated to achieve the separation of glycidyl tosylate enantiomers originated by in situ derivatization of glycidol enantiomers obtained in asymmetric epoxidation of allyl alcohol with chiral titanium-tartrate complexes as catalysts. The effects of the nature, pH and concentration of the buffer, the nature and concentration of chiral selector, the addition of SDS, methanol, ethanol or 2-propanol, the capillary temperature, the effective capillary length and the applied voltage on the chiral resolution of glycidyl tosylate enantiomers were investigated. The best separation conditions were achieved using a Tris-borate buffer mixture (50 and 25 mM, respectively) at pH=9.3 with a dual CD system consisting of 2.5% succinyl-beta-CD and 1.0% beta-CD w/v at 15 degrees C. A baseline separation (resolution approximately 2.0) of the glycidyl tosylate enantiomers was obtained in a relatively short time (less than 12 min). Satisfactory results were obtained in terms of linearity (r>0.99) and intermediate precision (RSD below 8.5%). The LOD and LOQ were 3.0 and 10.0 mg/L, respectively, and the recoveries ranged from 99.8 to 108.8%. Finally, the method was applied to the determination of the enantiomeric excess and the yield obtained in the asymmetric epoxidation of allyl alcohol employing chiral titanium-tartrate complexes as catalysts after an in situ derivatization of glycidol enantiomers to glycidyl tosylate.