Effects of various anionic chiral selectors on the capillary electrophoresis separation of chiral phenethylamines and achiral neutral impurities present in illicit methamphetamine

In this study, various anionic chiral selectors were investigated for the capillary electrophoresis (CE) separation of six chiral phenethylamines and three achiral neutral impurities which are commonly identified in illicit methamphetamine. Analyses were carried out at pH 8 (high osmotic flow) with untreated capillaries using 25 mM chiral surfactant or 10 mM charged cyclodextrin. The chiral selectors included the micelle (R)‐N‐dodecoxycarbonylvaline (EnantioSelect (R)‐Val‐1)) (ES) and the cyclodextrins sulfobutyl(IV)‐ether‐β‐cyclodextrin (SBE(IV)‐β‐CD) (BSB4), SBE(VII)‐β‐CD (BSB7), SBE(XII)‐β‐CD (BSB12), SBE(IV)‐γ‐CD (GSB‐4), SBE(VII)‐γ‐CD (GSB‐7), sulfated(XI)‐α‐cyclodextrin (SU(XI)‐α‐CD (AS11), SU(VII)‐β‐CD (BS7), SU(XII)‐β‐CD (BS12) and SU(XIII)‐γ‐CD (GS13). Enantiomeric and achiral selectivity strongly depends on the size of the CD, the average degree of substitution, and the type of substitution. ES exhibits good performance for the neutral solutes, but exhibits enantiomeric selectivity only for the α‐hydroxyphenethylamines. GS13 provides the best overall enantiomeric selectivity. All fifteen solutes related to methamphetamine are simultaneously separated using BSB7.