Preparation and evaluation of proline-based chiral columns.

Chiral stationary phases made of readily available proline peptides were prepared and evaluated for general chiral separation. With the proper structural elements, these columns demonstrated broad chiral selectivity. Among the 53 analytes tested, a tetraproline column resolved 31. The separations achieved for these analytes are comparable to those achieved on Whelk O2 column, while still inferior to those achieved on Daicel AD-H and OD-H columns. Number of proline units proves important for chiral recognition, because a control column made with a single proline unit is largely ineffective.