Zirconia-Based Stationary Phases for Chiral Separation: Mini Review

Recent advances in microchip enantioseparation and analysis

This review summarizes recent developments (over the past decade) in the field of microfluidics-based solutions for enantiomeric separation and detection. The progress in various formats of microchip electrodriven separations, such as MCE, microchip electrochromatography, and multidimensional separation techniques, is discussed. Innovations covering chiral stationary phases, surface coatings, and modification strategies to improve resolution, as well as integration with detection systems, are reported. Finally, combinations with other microfluidic functional units are also presented and highlighted.

Cellulose type chiral stationary phase based on reduced graphene oxide@silica gel for the enantiomer separation of chiral compounds

The graphene oxide (GO) was covalently coupled to the surfaces of silica gel (SiO2 ) microspheres by amide bond to get the graphene oxide@silica gel (GO@SiO2 ). Then, the GO@SiO2 was reduced with hydrazine to the reduced graphene oxide@silica gel (rGO@SiO2 ), and the cellulose derivatives were physically coated on the surfaces of rGO@SiO2 to prepare a chiral stationary phase (CSP) for high performance liquid chromatography. Under the optimum experimental conditions, eight benzene-enriched enantiomers were separated completely, and the resolution of trans-stilbene oxide perfectly reached 4.83. Compared with the blank column of non-bonded rGO, the separation performance is better on the new CSP, which is due to the existence of rGO to produce special retention interaction with analytes, such as π-π stacking, hydrophobic effect, π-π electron-donor-acceptor interaction, and hydrogen bonding. Therefore, the obtained CSP shows special selectivity for benzene-enriched enantiomers, improves separation selectivity and efficiency, and rGO plays a synergistic effect with cellulose derivatives on enantioseparation.

Application of Homochiral Alkylated Organic Cages as Chiral Stationary Phases for Molecular Separations by Capillary Gas Chromatography

Molecular organic cage compounds have attracted considerable attention due to their potential applications in gas storage, catalysis, chemical sensing, molecular separations, etc. In this study, a homochiral pentyl cage compound was synthesized from a condensation reaction of (S,S)-1,2-pentyl-1,2-diaminoethane and 1,3,5-triformylbenzene. The imine-linked pentyl cage diluted with a polysiloxane (OV-1701) was explored as a novel stationary phase for high-resolution gas chromatographic separation of organic compounds. Some positional isomers were baseline separated on the pentyl cage-coated capillary column. In particular, various types of enantiomers including chiral alcohols, esters, ethers and epoxides can be resolved without derivatization on the pentyl cage-coated capillary column. The reproducibility of the pentyl cage-coated capillary column for separation was investigated using nitrochlorobenzene and styrene oxide as analytes. The results indicate that the column has good stability and separation reproducibility after being repeatedly used. This work demonstrates that molecular organic cage compounds could become a novel class of chiral separation media in the near future.

Enantioseparations in open-tubular capillary electrochromatography: Recent advances and applications

This review highlights recent advances and applications in open-tubular capillary electrochromatography (OT-CEC) for enantioseparations during the last decade. Although extensive research has been conducted in the area of separations by use of CEC, and a big number of reviews have been published, there is not a review on exclusively the use of chiral stationary phases (CSPs) in OT-CEC for enantioseparations. Therefore, in this review, the design and synthesis of different CSPs are presented, and their potential applications in OT-CEC for enantioseparations are discussed. The different approaches to CSP development include chiral nanomaterials, porous layers, molecular imprinting, sol-gel technique, polyelectrolyte multilayer coating, polymeric coating and others.