Effect of Template on Chiral Separation of Phenylalanine using Molecularly Imprinted Membrane in Aqueous Medium

L-Phenylalanine (L-Phe) and D-Phenylalanine (D-Phe) imprinted poly [(acrylonitrile)-co-(acrylic acid)] membranes were prepared by wet phase inversion method for chiral separation. The chiral separation ability of molecularly imprinted copolymer membranes towards the underivatized D,L-Phe aqueous mixture was evaluated by ultrafiltration experiment. The novel membranes show continuous permselectivity but chiral resolution ability of L-Phe imprinted membrane was much better than that of D-Phe. It was observed that both membranes simultaneously, selectively reject, selectively adsorbed and selectively permeate solute. The achieved adsorption selectivities of L-Phe imprinted membrane [αAds]L and D-Phe imprinted membrane [αAds]D were 2.6 and 2.40 respectively. Permselectivity of L-Phe imprinted membrane [αPerm]L was 2.56 while D-Phe imprinted membrane’s permselectivity [αPerm]D was 2.03. The rejection selectivities of L-Phe and D-Phe imprinted membranes were [αRej]L=0.32 and [αRej]D =0.28 respectively.