Figures of Merit in the Quantification of Ibuprofen Enantiomers by Chiral HPLC

The determination of ibuprofen (IBU) enantiomers by chiral high-performance liquid chromatographic is described. The methodology is based on chiral recognition of ibuprofen by a chiral column based on cellulose tris(4-methylbenzoate) coated on silica gel (Chiralcel OJ-H). The mobile phase is n-hexane-2-propanol-trifluoroacetic acid (98:2:0.1, v/v/v). The flow rate was 1.0 mL/min, and UV detection was 254 nm. The samples of ibuprofen were prepared in n-hexane in the concentration range 50–100% of (S)-IBU 1 × 10-3 mol/L. Calibration and validation method were performed with six and nine samples, respectively. Goodness-of-fit measures represented by correlation coefficient, y-intercept, and slope of the regression line were 0.9836, 21373, 2162, respectively. Average of the relative error of the proposed method was 3.0%, 0.9% (S)-IBU selectivity, and 2162% (S)-IBU-1 sensitivity. The minimum concentration difference between two samples that could be determined in the linear dynamic range was 0.4% (S)-IBU. Limits of detection and quantification were 8.1 and 27.0% (S)-IBU, respectively. These results indicate that the proposed method can be employed for determination of the enantiomeric composition of IBU.