After simple purification of the incubation mixture of phenytoin in isolated rat hepatocytes, 5-(p-hydroxyphenyl)-5-phenylhydantoin (p-HPPH), which formed as a major metabolite, was readily resolved to each enantiomer by direct high-performance liquid chromatography on a cellulose tris(4-methylbenzoate) column, with a mobile phase of ethanol-water. It was also observed that the formation of S-(-)-p-HPPH was dominant, and the S/R ratio was 11.5.