Study on the weakest interaction model for chiral resolution using molecularly imprinted polymer

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) of L-phenylalanine ethyl ester were synthesized in this study. Then, the prepared MIPs were packed in a stainless column and evaluated as the chiral stationary phases of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The MIPs exhibited a considerable capability of chiral separation between template molecule and its enantiomer with the separation factor of 1.69. Furthermore, the weakest interaction model was introduced to study the chiral recognition mechanism of MIPs. The results suggested that the weakest interaction between the template molecule and the imprinted cavity played crucial role in chiral separation, and the molecular tension should be taken into consideration during the separation procedure. The separation factor of 2.07 was calculated by the theoretical model, which was very close to the value obtained from chromatographic experiment.