Enantioseparation and chiral recognition mechanism of new chiral derivatives of xanthones on macrocyclic antibiotic stationary phases

► HPLC enantioseparation of new chiral derivatives of xanthones was evaluated. ► Multimodal elution conditions were evaluated on four macrocyclic antibiotic CSPs. ► The best resolution was achieved on Chirobiotic R under normal elution conditions. ► Enantiomeric ratio of the chiral xanthone enantiomers was higher than 99%. ► Docking calculations confirm the enantiomer resolution. A chiral HPLC method using four macrocyclic antibiotic chiral stationary phases (CSPs) has been investigated for determination of the enantiomeric purity of fourteen new chiral derivatives of xanthones (CDXs). The separations were performed with the CSPs Chirobiotic T, Chirobiotic TAG, Chirobiotic V and Chirobiotic R under multimodal elution conditions (normal-phase, reversed-phase and polar ionic mode). The analyses were performed at room temperature in isocratic mode and UV and CD detection at a wavelength of 254nm. The best enantioselectivity and resolution were achieved on Chirobiotic R and Chirobiotic T CSPs, under normal elution conditions, with RS ranging from 1.25 to 2.50 and from 0.78 to 2.06, respectively. The optimized chromatographic conditions allowed the determination of the enantiomeric ratio of eight CDXs, always higher than 99%. In order to better understand the chromatographic behavior at a molecular level, and the structural features associated with the chiral recognition mechanism, computational studies by molecular docking were carried out using VDock. These studies shed light on the mechanisms involved in the enantioseparation for this important class of chiral compounds.