Determination of the interconversion energy barrier of enantiomers by separation methods.

Separation methods have become versatile tools for the determination of kinetic activation parameters and energy barriers to interconversion of isomers and enantiomers in the last 20 years. New computer-aided evaluation systems allow the on-line determination of these data after separating minute amount of pure compounds or mixture of isomers or enantiomers, respectively. Both dynamic interconversion during the separation process as well as static stopped-flow techniques have been applied to determine the kinetic activation parameters and interconversion energy barriers by separation methods. The use of (1) combinations of batchwise kinetic studies with enantioselective separations, (2) a continuous flow model, (3) a comparison of real chromatograms with simulated ones, (4) stopped-flow techniques, (5) stochastic methods, (6) approximation functions and (7) deconvolution methods, for the determination of interconversion energy barriers by separation methods is summarized in detail.