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Updated: Jun 14, 2026

Development of Heterogeneous Enantioselective Catalysts using Chiral Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs)
Published on: January 17, 2020
Enantioselective separation using chiral mesoporous spherical silica prepared by templating of chiral block
Pradip Paik1, Aharon Gedanken, Yitzhak Mastai
1Kanbar Laboratory for Nanomaterials and Institute of Nanotechnology, Department of Chemistry, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 52900, Israel.
Abstract:
In this work, we synthesized chiral mesoporous silica (CMS) spheres, which can be used as a potential candidate for chiral separation. The CMS spheres with controllable pore sizes (of 2-3 nm) and high surface areas of ca. 614 m(2) g(-1) were synthesized by chiral templating with chiral block copolymers based on poly(ethylene oxide) and dl-glutamic acid [PEO(113)-b-(GluA)(10)]. The ordered structure of the chiral mesopores was characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and the average pore diameters of chiral mesopores were estimated from the nitrogen adsorption-desorption measurements. The enantioselectivity properties and chiral resolution kinetics of the mesopores of silica spheres, after extraction of chiral polymers of PEO(113)-b-(l/d-GluA)(10), were scrutinized using a racemic solution of valine and measuring the circular dichroism and optical polarimetery. A chiral selectivity factor of 5.22 was found with a specific enantiomer of valine adsorbed preferably. These results raise the new possibilities of CMS spheres for enantiomeric separation and other enantioselective applications.
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