Generation of a Molecular Imprinted Membrane by Coating Cellulose Acetate onto a ZrO2-Modified Alumina Membrane for the Chiral Separation of Mandelic Acid Enantiomers

Abstract

An alumina template modified with ZrO2 was coated with cellulose acetate (CA) containing imprinted molecules for a novel enantioselective membrane. The preparation, morphologies, and properties of the different membranes were introduced and investigated. The morphologies of the membranes were examined using a scanning electron microscope. The best performing CA amount in the casting solution was observed to be 15 wt %, and this was chosen as the preparation amount for the resulting membrane. (S)-(+)-Mandelic acid was used as imprinted molecules to prepare the molecular imprinted nanochannel membrane, which enhanced the permselectivity and flux compared with the traditional membrane, and the separation factor was as high as 35. And this membrane has the best separation effect on (R,S)-mandelic acid when compared with (R,S)-malic acid and (R,S)-lactic acid.