- Previous Article
- Next Article
- Table of Contents
Journal of Membrane Science, Vol.127, No.2, 115-130, 1997
Enantioselective Extraction of (D)-Phenylalanine from Racemic (D/L)-Phenylalanine Using Chiral Emulsion Liquid Membranes
A chiral emulsion liquid membrane was developed using copper(II) N-decyl-(L)-hydroxyproline as a chiral carrier in a hexanol:decane membrane solvent. Enantioselective differential transport of (D)-phenylalanine from racemic (D/L)-phenylalanine was demonstrated. The maximum experimental enantioselectivity observed in the systems studied was 2.4, although this tended to decrease with time due to a mass action effect. The use of low source phase pH, high membrane phase hexanol and Paranox 106 were found to maximise enantioselective transport. A simple external phase interfacial reaction limited model was developed and was found to characterise the initial and equilibrium stages of extraction reasonably well. The former observation was found to be important as the highest enantioselectivities were observed in the early stages of extraction. Between these stages of extraction, emulsion diffusion was found to be the dominating mass transfer resistance.