Evaluation of Chiral Selectivity of Quinine Immobilized Chitin and Chitosan

Quinine is a well-known chiral reagent that has been used for enantio-separation by conventional methods. With the development of chromatographic techniques various polysaccharides too have been explored for application as chiral adsorbents. However, polysaccharides shows only limited ability for real application. Quinine immobilized cellulose and starch have been reported for improved enantio-selectivity. Guaran, a seed polysaccharide with abundance of cis-1, 2-hydroxyl groups when anchored with quinine significantly improved chiral selectivity. This study reports about evaluation of chiral-selectivity of quinine derivatized chitin and chitosan. Racemic borate complexed mandelic acid and bio-active ofloxacin are efficiently resolved by chromatography using Quinine modified chitin and chitosan. All the materials used for the current study are natural, non-toxic, readily available and in-expensive. Methods employed are simple and results clearly establish a correlation between structural component and enantio-separation.