Enantiorecognition ability of different chiral selectors for separation of liquid crystals in supercritical fluid chromatography; critical evaluation.

Comprehensive study of enantioselective potential of eight different chiral stationary phases for chiral liquid crystal-forming molecules was conducted. The tested columns were: (i) polysaccharide-based Trefoil AMY1, CEL1 and CEL2 and (ii) superficially porous particles packed TeicoShell, VancoShell, TagShell, DMP-MaltoShell, and NicoShell. To test their enantioselective potential for these separations, twenty racemic mixtures of rod-like liquid crystalline materials comprising three different types of chiral centres and various other structural differences were used. Mobile phases consisting of supercritical carbon dioxide and alcohol as cosolvent were used; selected alcohols were methanol, ethanol and propan-2-ol. Effect of acidic and/or basic additives on enantioselectivity was also evaluated. Chiral stationary phases based on polysaccharides were found to have the greatest enantioselective potential for rod-like molecules that form liquid crystals, followed by TeicoShell, which proved suitable for enantioseparation of non-halogenated liquid crystals with lactic acid-based chiral centre.