Enantiomeric separation of prothioconazole and prothioconazole‐desthio on chiral stationary phases

Prothioconazole is a type of broad‐spectrum triazole thione fungicide developed by the Bayer Company. Prothioconazole‐desthio is the main metabolite of prothioconazole in the environment. In our study, enantiomeric separation of prothioconazole and prothioconazole‐desthio was performed on various chiral stationary phases (CSPs) by high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). It was found that polysaccharide CSPs showed better ability than brushing CSPs in enantiomeric separation. The successful chiral separation of prothioconazole could be achieved on self‐made Chiralcel OD, commercialized Chiralcel OJ‐H and Lux Cellulose‐1. Chiralpak IA, Chiralpak IB, Chiralpak IC, Chiralcel OD, Chiralpak AY‐H, Chiralpak AZ‐H, and Lux Cellulose‐1 realized the baseline separation of prothioconazole‐desthio enantiomers. Simultaneous enantiomeric separation of prothioconazole and prothioconazole‐desthio was performed on Lux Cellulose‐1 using acetonitrile (ACN) and water as mobile phase. In most cases, low temperature favored the separation of two compounds. The influence of the mobile phase ratio or type was deeply discussed. We obtained larger Rs and longer analysis time with a smaller proportion of isopropanol (IPA) or ethanol and more water content at the same temperature. The ratio of ACN and water had influences on the outflow orders of prothioconazole‐desthio enantiomers. This work provides a new approach for chiral separation of prothioconazole and prothioconazole‐desthio with a discussion of chiral separation mechanism on different CSPs.