SummaryA chiral macrocyclic crown ether exhibits an enantiomer-selectivity of 2.6 for u -phenylethylammonium ion when incorporated in solvent polymeric membranes. The sequence of selectivity of these membranes clearly differs from that of lipophilicity for the different biogenic ammonium ions studied, indicating a significant structural contribution.Chiral macrocyclic polyethers which bind chiral ammonium ions with high enantiomer-selectivity and behave as ionophores have been described [ 1-31. The enantiomer-selectivity of such ligands can easily be determined quantitatively by using an electrochemical procedure described earlier [4] [ 5 ] . Here we report on such studies using the ion carrier 1 (Scheme) [6] in solvent polymeric membranes and phenylethylammonium ions as substrates in aqueous solutions contacting the membrane.
Scheme
3The selectivities KF&, presented in Figure 1 indicate the preference of the ions J relative to the (k )-u-phenylethylammonium ion by the membrane. In contrast to other ionophores described (see 2 and 3 in Fig. I), 1 induces a rather high selectivity for PEA+ over ephedronium (EPH+) and pseudo-ephedronium 0018-019X/81/3/0657-05$01.00/0 0 1981 Schweizerische Chernische Gesellschaft