Lambda-carrageenan: a novel chiral selector for capillary electrophoresis.

Lambda-carrageenan, a linear high molecular weight sulfated polysaccharide, has been employed as a chiral selector in capillary electrophoresis for the separation of enantiomers of weakly basic pharmaceutical compounds. The racemic compounds that were enantioresolved included propranolol, pindolol, tryptophanol, laudanosine and laudanosoline. In addition, the diastereomeric pair of cinchonine and cinchonidine were also resolved. Method conditions such as buffer pH, electrolyte concentration, column temperature, and chiral selector concentration were found to be important for improvement of enantioselectivity.