Synthesis of a nano-sized chiral imprinted polymer and its use as an (S)-atenolol carrier in the bulk liquid membrane

In this work, nano-sized chiral imprinted polymers containing (S)-atenolol ((S)-ATN) selective sites were synthesized by using suspension polymerization in silicon oil. (S)-ATN, methacrylic acid, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate were used as enantiomerically pure template, functional monomer, and cross-linker, respectively. The prepared chiral imprinted polymers were used as the carrier elements in a bulk liquid membrane (BLM). (S)-ATN transport capability of the chiral imprinted polymers was compared with that of the nonimprinted polymer. It was shown that chiral imprinted polymers could transport (S)-ATN through the BLM more effectively than (R)-ATN, whereas no difference in the facilitated transport was observed between (R)-ATN and (S)-ATN when using nonimprinted polymer particles as the carrier element in the BLM. A kinetic model was proposed for the transportation of (S)-ATN through the chiral imprinted polymers based BLM. It was found that the extraction of ATN from the source to the membrane controls the chiral separation process. It was also found that the pH of source and receiving phases as well as the racemic ATN concentration in source phase had very crucial effect on the chiral separation efficiency.