Abstract
Obtaining chiral, biologically active compounds in enantio-pure form is one of the great challenges in the pharmaceutical industry. This work prepared surface molecularly imprinted micro-beads derived from -NH2 functionalized cellulose triacetate for the enantio-selective separation of S-ketoprofen (S-KP) and enantio-separation of (+/-)-KP racemate. First, cellulose triacetate (CTA) micro-beads were prepared and grafted with polyacrylamide (PAm) then the amide units were converted into-NH2 groups via treatment with NaOCl (Hof-mann degradation). The -NH(2 )functionalized CTA (C-NH2) were then loaded with the carboxylic acid-functionalized S-KP enantiomers, then imprinted upon surface cross-linking using glutaraldehyde, followed by departing the S-KP template to obtain the S-KP enantio-selective sorbent (S-KPC-NH2) finally. The polymeric materials were analyzed using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), elemental analysis, and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Also, the surface of the original CTA micro-beads, along with the obtained S-KPC-NH2 and NI-C-NH2, was visualized by the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The selective uptake of the R-and S-KP enantiomers was studied under different conditions to optimize the best removal condition. Then, the enantio-separation of the (+/-)-KP racemate was attempted using separation columns. The results obtained from this study indicated promising feasibility in separation and purification, especially with high-cost pharmaceuticals, which are not available in the enantiopure form.