Dear Colleagues,

The importance of being able to separate the two different non-superimposable mirror image (enantiomeric) forms of chiral molecules was recognised as far back as in the 19th century. However, even with this need becoming very high profile because of the Thalidomide Tragedy in the late-1950s/early-1960s, it was not until the major developments in commercially-available chiral stationary phases (CSP) that took place in the mid-1980s that this major challenge could be met without any great degree of difficulty. These developments had a profound impact on industries, such as the pharmaceutical industry, and proceeded at such a rate that, by the mid-1990s, it was perceived by some that the separation of enantiomers presented no challenge at all. I often recall how a leading industrialist visiting my university declared to my students, “Chiral separations is no longer an issue. We just do it!”. However, developments in the field continued apace with the widespread adoption of automated screening approaches for chiral method development, the use of super-critical fluid chromatography for preparative chiral work, the introduction of immobilised derivatised polysaccharide CSP, the use of UPC² for chiral separations and, most recently, the beginnings of chiral uHPLC. Especially with the introduction of more and more commercially-available CSP, the last couple of decades of chiral chromatography have seen gradual evolutionary progress rather than the spectacular growth and high impact innovations that had been seen previously.

Undoubtedly, chiral chromatography is a mature field and some of the recent introductions might seem obvious rather than inventive. However, as a branch of science progresses there are always unmet needs that will persist and new unmet needs that will arise. Additionally, there will be scope for ideas that offer something new, or at least different from the orthodoxy of the time. Accordingly, the aim of this Special Issue, “Advances in Chiral Chromatography”, is to demonstrate that this is the case for chiral chromatography. It is hoped to present readers not just with the latest research in the separation of enantiomers but to highlight approaches to the area that are a bit different and/or tackle unmet needs. Contributions which address this theme are cordially invited.

Dr. W John Lough
Guest Editor

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• chiral chromatography
• enantiomer separations
• liquid chromatography (LC)
• gas chromatography (GC)
• thin-layer chromatography (TLC)
• super-critical fluid chromatography (SFC)
• electrophoretic techniques
• determination of enantiomers
• applications
• chiral recognition mechanisms