Abstract: A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method was established for the determination of the enantiomers of 7 aryloxy aminopropanol drugs (atenolol, sotalol, celiprolol, carvedilol, metoprolol, propranolol and propafenone) in transport medium. The method involved liquid-liquid extraction of chiral drugs from transport medium, and employed 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-β-D-glucopyranosyl isothiocyanate (GITC, 1.0 mg/mL in acetonitrile) as a pre-column chiral derivatization reagent. After derivatization, the products were separated on an Agilent Zorbax C8 column (150 mm×4.6 mm, 5 µm) at 25 °C. The mobile phase consisted of a mixture of acetonitrile and 0.01 M phosphate buffer (pH 3.5). The present methods were specific for the determination of enantiomers of each chiral drug. The absolute recoveries of the enantiomers and internal standards were >78%. The relative recoveries of the enantiomers were approximately 100%. The intra- and inter-day variations were <15%. The method was reproducible and sufficiently sensitive to determine the enantiomers of seven aryloxy aminopropanol drugs in transport medium. The method could be used to study the transport of atenolol, sotalol, celiprolol, carvedilol, metoprolol, propranolol and propafenone.

Key words: Enantiomer separation, Aryloxy aminopropanol drugs, RP-HPLC, Pre-column derivatization