Enantiomeric resolution on L-carnitine selective polymers prepared by molecular imprinting

L-carnitine selective polymers were prepared by molecular imprinting using methacrylic acid as the functional monomer. The acid function of the monomer is expected to form hydrogen bond and ionic interactions with the amine function of the target molecule L-carnitine. The imprinted polymers were used as stationary phases in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). It was shown that L-carnitine imprinted polymer exhibited a higher affinity to its template molecule, while the non-imprinted polymer had no affinity to the compounds tested. Racemic carnitine hydrochloride was efficiently resolved on the L-carnitine imprinted polymer, and the separation factor is 1.9.