Enantiomeric Separation of Racemic Mixtures Using Chiral-Selective and Organic-Solvent-Resistant Thin-Film Composite Membranes

Membrane-based chiral separation has emerged as a promising method for the efficient separation of chiral molecules. Ideally, the membranes should be able to achieve good enantioselectivity, while maintaining high stability in harsh solvents. However, engineering membranes for chiral molecular separation in harsh organic solvent environments is still a big challenge. In this study, we fabricated a novel thin-film composite nanofiltration membrane composed of (2-hydroxypropyl)-beta-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) as the chiral selector for the enantiomeric separation of racemic 1-phenylethanol chiral compounds in organic solvents. The fabricated membrane achieved 60-80% enantioselectivity of R-phenylethanol over S-phenylethanol in nonpolar n-hexane. It was found that HP-β-CD played a critical role in the enantioselective performance, as the membrane without HP-β-CD showed no chiral selectivity. Molecular docking calculations substantiate the experiments by showing that the average free binding energy of S-phenylethanol with HP-β-CD is stronger than that of R-phenylethanol, indicating that the complex of S-phenylethanol with HP-β-CD has a higher thermodynamic stability and greater interaction. Furthermore, the crosslinked network between HP-β-CD and the polyamide layer conferred the membrane with solvent stability in nonpolar solvents. Moreover, this new membrane exhibited good solvent permeance and a molecular weight cutoff of around 650 g mol-1.