Bupropion hydrochloride: the development of a chiral separation using an ovomucoid column.

The separation of bupropion enantiomers on an ovomucoid stationary phase was investigated. The mobile- and stationary-phase parameters that may influence the separation were identified. The parameters that were studied include: type and concentration of organic modifier, mobile phase pH, ionic strength, type of buffer, and column temperature, as well as the effect that the amount of sample injected had on the separation. The optimized chiral separation baseline-resolved the enantiomers in less than 10 min. Calibration curves for a standard were linear over a range of 0.27-53.0 microg/g (ppm) with a correlation coefficient of 0.999 for both enantiomers. A detection limit of 0.13 microg/g and a quantitation limit of 0.27 microg/g were also found. The system precision of the method was 0.2%.