Solubility of Mandelic Acid Enantiomers and Their Mixtures in Three Chiral Solvents

A systematic study of the ternary solubility phase diagrams of chiral mandelic acid species in the chiral solvents (S)-methyl lactate, (S)-propyl lactate, and (S)-butyl lactate has been carried out. Solubility measurements were performed for different enantiomeric compositions in a temperature range between (273 and 318) K. Experimental results indicated no proof of solubility differences of the enantiomers in all three chiral solvents used. Hence, increasing chain length of the chiral solvents has no influence on chiral recognition. Besides, the eutectic composition in the chiral system in the presence of the solvent as a significant parameter for enantioseparation was determined for all the chiral solvents investigated. Also, the activity coefficients were derived for all three chiral solvents applied. copyright 2010 American Chemical Society [accessed November 18th, 2010