Confinement induced immiscibility of mixtures of enantiomers

The concentration profiles and phase properties of symmetric fluid mixtures confined by parallel planar walls are analyzed for the cases of identical and symmetrically opposed fields at the walls. We focus on the occurrence of phase separation otherwise absent in bulk mixtures and find that this can take place when chemical potentials and molecular interactions are modified at the surfaces. The phenomenon may find application in the resolution of racemic mixtures of enantiomers. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.