Determination of salbutamol by direct chiral reversed‐phase HPLC using teicoplanin as stationary phase and its application to natural water analysis

A direct chiral LC‐UV method was optimized for the determination of salbutamol (SAL) β₂‐agonist in environmental water. Two commercially available columns were evaluated: teicoplanin Chirobiotic‐T™ (150 × 2.1 mm i.d., 5 µm) and vancomycin Chirobiotic‐V™ (150 × 2.1 mm i.d., 5 µm). Finally, teicoplanin chiral stationary phase was selected for SAL enantiomer resolution. In order to preserve its integrity and maintain the column performance for longer time, the use of additives such as triethylamine (TEA) in the mobile phase was avoided. Experimental design was applied to simultaneously evaluate the influence of several parameters involved in enantiomer separation and to establish the conditions for acceptable resolution and performance in short analysis time. Optimum mobile phase was methanol–20 mM ammonium acetate buffer at pH 4.5 (98:2, v/v). A solid‐phase extraction procedure for sample pre‐concentration and clean‐up allowed the determination of chiral SAL residues in natural water samples spiked at low concentrations in the range 1.0–20 ng mL⁻¹. Reproducible recoveries, between 77 and 98%, were obtained and matrix effect was negligible. Injection of sample solutions at low elution strength permitted the SAL enantioresolution in the natural water complex matrix with satisfactory sensitivity and precision. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.