Enantioselective adsorption of hydrobenzoin on zeolite beta

Chiral separations are of great importance as enantiomerically pure compounds in products such as pharmaceutical, fragrances, food additives, insecticides, etc. constitute a growing multi-billion dollar market worldwide. Chiral molecules are stereoisomers that are non-superimposable mirror images of each other. Adsorption on zeolite beta of hydrobenzoin, (1,2-diphenyl-1,2- ethanediol) as a model enantiomeric species, was carried out to study the ability of zeolite beta to adsorb and potentially discriminate between its enantiomers. The results showed Zeolite Beta, presumably through enantiomorphs of polymorph A, selectively adsorb both (R,R)-(+)-hydrobenzoin or (S,S)-(-)-hydrobenzoin, and that, theoretically, a racemic mixture of hydrobenzoin can be resolved using zeolite beta containing either enantiomer of hydrobenzoin.