At the beginning of the partnership, VPDD sent a novel racemic compound to CTI to identify a separation method utilizing its extensive portfolio of chiral stationary phases. CTI successfully developed a method for this sample using a CHIRALPAK^® IA column. CTI continues to work with VPDD on method development projects and supplies the program with various enantioselective chiral chromatography columns, including CHIRALPAK IA and IC immobilized columns. This enables VPDD to resolve similar compounds in-house and determine their enantiomeric purity.

“Chiral molecules are important building blocks and potential drug candidates. The biological testing of resolved enantiomers has resulted in very interesting and unexpected activities,” said Dr. Craig W. Lindsley, medicinal chemistry director for VPDD.

“Establishing and maintaining a comprehensive in-house prep infrastructure is prohibitively expensive,” said Chris Denicola, director of analytical chemistry for VPDD. “Chiral Technologies not only supplies columns, it also assists us in our research and method development and small-scale prep work, which we would not otherwise be able to perform in our laboratories.”

“In recent years, the need to obtain pure enantiomers through chromatography has grown dramatically,” said Mark McDonald, vice president of sales and marketing for Chiral Technologies, Inc. “We are committed to the advancement of Vanderbilt’s drug discovery program, and we are pleased to support such a prestigious R&D endeavor.”

For more information about Chiral Technologies, visit http://www.chiraltech.com. To learn more about the Vanderbilt Program in Drug Discovery, visit http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/labs/lindsley.