Chiral tetrahexahedral (24-sided) Au nanoparticles are tested for their use as chiral separators of pharmaceutical drugs in solution phase. Tetrahexahedral Au nanoparticles were chirally modified with either D- or L-cysteine. They show enantioselective adsorption of pharmaceuticals such as propranolol hydrochloride (used for anxiety and high blood pressure) from a solution of racemic propranolol hydrochloride, thus leaving an enantiomeric excess in the solution phase. This work suggests that chiral nanoparticles can be used for enantiomeric separation of real pharmaceutical drugs. A simple robust model has also been developed that allows extraction of the enantiospecific equilibrium constants for R- and S-propranolol hydrochloride adsorption on the chiral tetrahexahedral Au nanoparticles. The model obviates the need for experimental determination of the surface area of absorbent Au nanoparticles which is extremely difficult to measure.

Enantiomeric separations of chiral pharmaceuticals using chiral tetrahexahedral Au nanoparticles

251st National Meeting (2016)

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