Unified enantioselective capillary chromatography on a Chirasil-DEX stationary phase. Advantages of column miniaturization.

Immobilized Chirasil-DEX (mono-6-O-octamethylenepermethyl-beta-cyclodextrin chemically linked to dimethylpolysiloxane) can be employed as a versatile chiral stationary phase in chromatography. The chiral polymer has a long lifetime and is configurationally and thermally stable. The concept of unified enantioselective chromatography has been demonstrated for the enantiomer separation of hexobarbital by gas chromatography, supercritical fluid chromatography, liquid chromatography and capillary electrochromatography on a single open-tubular column (1 m x 50 microns I.D.) coated with Chirasil-DEX. The advantages of miniaturization in contemporary chromatographic enantiomer separation are demonstrated. Chirasil-DEX coated on porous silica is also useful for enantiomer separation in high-performance liquid chromatography.