In situ Assembly of Functionalized Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube with partially reduced Graphene oxide Nanocomposite Membrane for Chiral Separation of β-substituted-α-amino acids

[Display omitted] •Fabrication of a tunable pillar of rGO-FSWCNT based nanocomposite membrane.•The nancomposite membrane selectively separated the racemic mixture.•A maximum of 88–99.4 % of ee(L)–isomer was obtained for each racemic mixture.•Synergistic assembly of FSWCNT within the graphene sheets acts as chiral probe. The usage of functionalized nanoporous materials with a high aspect ratio, excellent selectivity, good thermal and chemical robustness and easy aqueous processability can significantly influence the membrane-based chiral separation process. In the present study, we have reported a tunable pillar of rGO-FSWCNT based nanocomposite membrane for the chiral separation of β-substituted-α-amino acids. The nanocomposite membranes were prepared via Interfacial Polymerization (IP) method between partially rGO-FSWCNT composite and trimesoylchloride over the surface of polysulfone support. The membrane permeation experiment investigated the influence of physicochemical factors such as permeation time, operating pressure, and feed concentration on the separation performance. Nanocomposite membranes containing D-tryptophan as the chiral probe preferentially adsorbed the D-isomer of the racemic mixture while allowing the passage of the L-isomer to the permeate side. A maximum of 88–99.4 % of ee(L)–isomer was obtained for each racemic mixture separated under optimal experimental parameters such as feed concentration of the racemic mixture of 10 mmol.L-1, an applied pressure of 3.5 bar, a flow rate of 25 mL.min−1 and a temperature of 25 °C. The pillaring effect exhibited by vertically aligned CNT within graphene planes possesses desirable L-isomer transport and provide excellent mechanical properties to retentate the D-isomer over nanocomposite membrane. This effect has proven that the synergistic assembly of FSWCNT acts as chiral probe to successfully fabricate the pillared tunnel for better enantioseparation of chiral molecules.