Artificial Inherently Chiral Electroactive Membranes

Low-cost, continuous, high-efficiency resolution technology is clearly needed for commercial-scale preparation of enantiomerically pure substances. Membrane technology, fortunately, fulfils this need very well because of its high efficiency, low energy usage, simplicity, convenience for up- and/or down-scaling, and continuous operability. Membrane-based chiral resolution can be achieved using either enantioselective or non-enantioselective membranes. The enantioselective membranes themselves can carry out chiral separation of enantiomers because they contain chiral recognition sites [1]. Considering the outstanding enantioselection ability achieved with our inherently chiral surfaces [2] we have decided to synthesize by electrooligomerization inherently chiral membranes. These membranes were electrodeposited on FTO electrodes from the enanantiopure monomers of our inherently chiral forefather (BT2T4) dissolved in acetonitrile + tetrabutylammonium hexafluorophosphate 0.1 M as supporting electrolyte. The chiral membrane detachment is then obtained by dipping the FTO in deionized water. Preliminary tests have shown that they are electroactive with a perfectly specular CD spectra. We have also performed experiments by inserting the enantiopure membrane in a support normally used for ISE electrodes. The support of Fondazione Cariplo/Regione Lombardia "Avviso congiunto per l’incremento dell’attrattività del sistema di ricerca lombardo e della competitività dei ricercatori candidati su strumenti ERC - edizione 2016” (Project 2016-0923) is gratefully acknowledged.