Nanoporous materials for chiral resolution

Abstract

Chirality is well known as a ubiquitous feature for the sustainability of life in nature. For instance, chiral substances with pure enantiomeric forms are essential for the generation and evolution of life. Therefore, the chiral separation of enantiomers is of great significance in both life science and pharmaceutical industry. The two most widely adopted chiral separation strategies are chromatographic separation and membrane-assisted separation, the latter one of which is promising for large-scale production due to its potential advantages. In this review, we summarized the innovative materials with intrinsic micropores developed in recent years and their application for chiral resolution either as stationary phases in chromatography or as separation membranes, including metal organic frameworks (MOFs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs), modified graphene or graphene-oxides (GO), porous organic cages (POCs) and others.