Polymer- versus silica-based separation media: elimination of nonspecific interactions in the chiral recognition process through functional polymer design.

A novel chiral stationary phase that contains a new chiral selector based on L-valine-3,5-dimethylanilide attached to monodisperse poly(glycidyl methacrylate-co-ethylene dimethacrylate) beads has been prepared. The polymeric separation medium provides greatly enhanced enantioselectivities and reduced retention times when compared to the analogous silica-based chiral stationary phase in the separation of the enantiomers of 3,5-dinitrobenzamido derivatives of alpha-amino acids under normal-phase HPLC conditions. Separation factors (alpha) of up to 7 were achieved with the polymeric separation medium, which is also useful for the separation of large samples under overload conditions.