Surface imprinted polyurethane film as a chiral discriminator

The use of surface imprinted polyurethane film, such as Tecoflex 60 D, as a chiral discriminator, was investigated. The imprinting layer was formed by coating a thin layer of polyaminophenyl boronic acid. L-Tyrosine and D-tyrosine were also used as model compounds. The polymer was dissolved in tetrahydrofuran and precipitated by adding water to remove any additives present. Though the polymer does not contain any assymmetric discriminating centers, the remarkable enantioselectivity is presumed be due to the creation of LT specific sites on the surface of the polymer through molecular imprinting. The results show that selective concentration of isomer on an imprinted surface is possible.