Enantiomeric Separations in Chromatography

I. INTRODUCTION

The resolution of enantiomers (nonsuperimposable, mirror-image isomers) has traditionally been considered one of the more difficult problems in separation science. Enantiomers have identical physical and chemical properties in an isotropic environment except that they rotate the plane of polarized light in opposite directions. A mixture containing equal amounts of enantiomers is referred to as a racemic mixture. Neither racemic mixtures nor solutions of achiral compounds are able to rotate the plane of polarized light.