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Enantiomer separation of hydrocarbons in preparation for ROSETTA's “chirality‐experiment”
Author(s) -
Meierhenrich Uwe J.,
Thiemann Wolfram H.P,
Goesmann Fred,
Roll Reinhard,
Rosenbauer Helmut
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
chirality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.43
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1520-636X
pISSN - 0899-0042
DOI - 10.1002/chir.1061
Subject(s) - enantiomer , chemistry , chirality (physics) , diastereomer , cyclodextrin , comet , resolution (logic) , organic chemistry , gas chromatography , chiral derivatizing agent , computational chemistry , chromatography , chiral column chromatography , astrobiology , chiral symmetry breaking , physics , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , computer science , nambu–jona lasinio model , quark
Until now the favored method for separating racemic pairs of underivatized alcohols, diols, and phenylsubstituted amines has been gas chromatography on cyclodextrin phases. However, certain enantiomers of saturated chiral hydrocarbons could not be resolved in this way because they lack the functional groups necessary to undergo “intensive” diastereomeric interactions with the cyclodextrins. The present study describes a gas‐chromatographic technique for resolution of saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons into their enantiomers and presents a brief discussion of the possible applications. The (enantiomer) separations were performed in preparation for the Cometary Sampling and Composition Experiment on board the cometary lander RoLand, part of ESA's cornerstone mission ROSETTA. This experiment has been designed to investigate the hypotheses that biomolecular asymmetry has an interstellar origin and to separate and identify a wide range of organic enantiomers in situ on the surface of a comet's nucleus. Chirality 13:454–457, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.