Recognition and separation of enantiomers based on functionalized magnetic nanomaterials

Enantioselective separation is significantly important for the study of pharmacology and biology, but it is still a big challenge because of the identical physical and chemical properties of enantiomers in an achiral environment. Magnetic nanomaterials have unique properties such as extremely large surface area per volume substance and strong magnetic response. It is very easy for them to be isolated from complicated matrixes, only by applying external magnets. The possibilities for surface functionalization make them exciting candidates for enantioseparation. Functionalized magnetic nanomaterials are unique tools for the simple and rapid enantioseparation compared with traditional chiral stationary phase. In this review, various magnetic nanomaterials modified with specific chiral selectors are reviewed in this manuscript. The prepared functional magnetic materials are typically used as chiral adsorbents for enantioseparation applications, formatted by methods of dispersive solid phase extraction, enantioselective crystallization, or column and microchip separation. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.