Small Grants for Exploratory Research: Optical Isomer Resolution by Novel Aqueous Two-Phase Systems

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Many drugs are chiral, that is, they exist in right-and left- handed molecular forms called enantiomers. Although structure is almost identical, enantiomers can differ considerably in their pharmacological effects. For drug development, it is crucial to investigate the pharmacokinetics effects of individual pure enantiomers during preclinical and clinical trials. However, the lack of sufficient quantities of individual stereoisomers drugs for carrying out these trials, and the expensive separation techniques for optical isomer resolution currently represent a bottleneck. The objective of this project is to use a variety of newly discovered novel aqueous two-phase systems for the resolution of optical isomers. Because the phase-forming compounds in these novel aqueous two-phase systems are relatively cheap, they will provide an inexpensive technique by which the chiral separation can be carried out. In order to fully utilize their potential, a fundamental investigation of optical isomer partitioning in these new systems is done with the goal of enhancing the separation factor by varying environmental conditions. This is a Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) jointly supported by the Separation and Purification and the Interfacial, Transport, and Thermodynamics Programs.