Progress of molecular imprinting technique for enantioseparation of chiral drugs in recent ten years

The existence of chiral compounds is a very common phenomenon in the field of medicine, and nearly 60% of drugs are chiral. The separation of racemic drugs is the key to safe use of drugs. Molecularly imprinted technique (MIT) has attracted wide attention in the separation of chiral drugs in recent years due to its simple operation and strong specific recognition ability of target molecules. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have been used as selective adsorbents in a variety of analytical techniques, and excellent progress has been made in the separation of chiral drugs. In this paper, the MIT for the separation of drug in recent ten years is reviewed. We will introduce how to achieve chiral drug resolution in different chromatographic techniques based on the morphological differences of MIPs (micron-sized particles, nanoparticles and monolithic column materials) as the classification criteria. Furthermore, the contributions of surface molecularly imprinted technique (SMIT) and molecularly imprinted membrane (MIM) technology in racemic drug resolution are also introduced. Finally, the main application challenges of chiral MIT are briefly introduced, and the future development direction of this field is prospected. (c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.