Enantioselective crystallization of D,L-amino acids induced by spontaneous asymmetric resolution of D,L-asparagine.

Racemic D,L-asparagine induced spontaneous asymmetric resolution of co-existing D,L-phenylalanine or D,L-tryptophan by recrystallization from a homogeneous aqueous solution, and the enantiomeric excess of phenylalanine or tryptophan in the resulting crystals correlated linearly with that of asparagine crystallized with phenylalanine or tryptophan.