Chiral separation in microflows.
Molecules that only differ by their chirality, so-called enantiomers, often possess different properties with respect to their biological function. Therefore, the separation of enantiomers presents a prominent challenge in molecular biology and has long been a main pursuit of organic chemistry. We suggest a new separation technique for chiral molecules that is based on the transport properties in a microfluidic flow with spatially variable vorticity. Because of their size the thermal fluctuating motion of the molecules must be taken into account. These fluctuations play a decisive role in the proposed separation mechanism.
Institut für Physik, Universität Augsburg, Universitätsstrasse 1, D-86135 Augsburg, Germany.
Marcin
M
Kostur
Michael
M
Schindler
Peter
P
Talkner
Peter
P
Hänggi