Malcolm Driffield
New Chiral Stationery Phases

Project Overview

My doctorate was joint supervised by Professor David Goodall and Dr Dave Smith, and as such, I was interested in a combination of analytical science and dendrimer chemistry. The use of dendrimers in separation science is an area of considerable current interest. Given the importance to the pharmaceutical industry of separating enantiomers, we decided to target the development of new chiral stationary phases using dendritic systems based on L-lysine. With this goal in mind, we developed the stereocontrolled syntheses of a number of different dendrons, and then grafted these molecules onto functionalised silica. The materials generated in this way were characterised by a wide range of techniques – including X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (in collaboration with Karen Wilson in the department). The materials were then packed into stainless steel HPLC columns, and their performance in separations were assessed. In particular, dendrons with different structures were investigated, and their abilities to separate both achiral and chiral mixtures of compounds were elucidated. Interestingly, we could correlate the performance of the column with the molecular structures of the dendrons which had been grafted onto the silica. Furthermore, we observed some chiral separations. It is hoped that in the future, these systems might be developed further for applications in analytical science. My PhD was submitted in November 2002, and I passed my viva examination in February 2003. My research has been published in a number of papers.

Destination – Researcher (Analytical Scientist) at Central Science Laboratories