Enantioseparations by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Using Molecularly Imprinted Polymers

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are becoming increasingly useful as chromatographic adsorbents for molecular separations, especially chiral separations, because they can be tailored to specifically recognize the target molecule including its stereochemistry. Traditionally formed MIPs (as described here) are stable under ambient conditions for years, take only days to make, and use relatively inexpensive components, with the possible exception of the template in some cases which can be reused after it is removed from the polymer to keep costs down. In addition to providing experimental details for typical synthetic methods to fabricate MIPs and pack them into HPLC columns, this chapter also gives an overview of the concepts of molecular imprinting method and discusses important factors for designing an effective imprinted polymer.