Carvedilol is administered as a racemic mixture of the R(+)- and S(-)-enantiomers, although it was demonstrated that the two enantiomers exhibit different pharmacological effects and stereoselective pharmacokinetics. The aim of this study was the evaluation of several native and derivatized cyclodextrines as chiral selectors for the separation of carvedilol enantiomers. Stereoselective interactions were observed with four cyclodextrines (β-CD, hydroxypropyl-β-CD, randomly methylated β-CD and sulfobuthyl ether- β-CD). The effects of CD concentration, pH value and composition of the background electrolyte, capillary temperature, running voltage and injection parameters have been investigated. The method was validated for precision of peak-area response, linearity range and limits of detection and quantification. An efficient stereoselective capillary zone electrophoretic method was developed for the determination of carvedilol enantiomers using a simple 25 mM phosphate buffer at a pH = 2.5 and 10 mM β-CD as chiral selector, resulting in baseline separation of the two enantiomers with sharp peaks and relatively short analysis time. Highly satisfactory results were obtained from the analysis of carvedilol from tablets, indicating that the method is suitable for routine analysis of carvedilol in pharmaceutical products.
Keywords: Capillary electrophoresis; Carvedilol; Chirality; Cyclodextrines; Enantiomer separation.