Preparative enantioseparation of propafenone by counter‐current chromatography using di‐ n ‐butyl l ‐tartrate combined with boric acid as the chiral selector

This paper extends the research of the utilization of borate coordination complexes in chiral separation by counter‐current chromatography (CCC). Racemic propafenone was successfully enantioseparated by CCC with di‐n‐butyl l‐tartrate combined with boric acid as the chiral selector. The two‐phase solvent system was composed of chloroform/ 0.05 mol/L acetate buffer pH 3.4 containing 0.10 mol/L boric acid (1:1, v/v), in which 0.10 mol/L di‐n‐butyl l‐tartrate was added in the organic phase. The influence of factors in the enantioseparation of propafenone were investigated and optimized. A total of 92 mg of racemic propafenone was completely enantioseparated using high‐speed CCC in a single run, yielding 40–42 mg of (R)‐ and (S)‐propafenone enantiomers with an HPLC purity over 90–95%. The recovery for propafenone enantiomers from fractions of CCC was in the range of 85–90%.