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The Renewable and Sustainable Conversion of Chitin into a Chiral Nitrogen‐Doped Carbon‐Sheath Nanofiber for Enantioselective Adsorption
Author(s) -
Nguyen HoangLinh,
Ju Sungbin,
Hao Lam Tan,
Tran Thang Hong,
Cha Hyun Gil,
Cha Yoon Jeong,
Park Jeyoung,
Hwang Sung Yeon,
Yoon Dong Ki,
Hwang Dong Soo,
Oh Dongyeop X.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.201901176
Subject(s) - materials science , chitin , enantioselective synthesis , chemical engineering , carbon fibers , enantiomer , nanomaterials , adsorption , carbon nanotube , nanotechnology , organic chemistry , chemistry , chitosan , catalysis , composite material , composite number , engineering
Well‐known hard‐template methods for nitrogen (N)‐doped chiral carbon nanomaterials require complicated construction and removal of the template, high‐temperature pyrolysis, harsh chemical treatments, and additional N‐doping processes. If naturally occurring chiral nematic chitin nanostructures [(C 8 H 13 NO 5 ) n ] in exoskeletons were wholly transformed into an N‐doped carbon, this would be an efficient and sustainable method to obtain a useful chiral nanomaterial. Here, a simple, sacrificial‐template‐free, and environmentally mild method was developed to produce an N‐doped chiral nematic carbon‐sheath nanofibril hydrogel with a surface area >300 m 2 g −1 and enantioselective properties from renewable chitin biomass. Calcium‐saturated methanol physically exfoliated bulk chitin and produced a chiral nematic nanofibril hydrogel. Hydrothermal treatment of the chiral chitin hydrogel at 190 °C produced an N‐doped chiral carbon‐sheath nanofibril hydrogel without N‐doping. This material preferentially adsorbed d ‐lactic acid over l ‐lactic acid and produced 16.3 % enantiomeric excess of l ‐lactic acid from a racemic mixture.