Configurational chirality based separation

1. A method of determining the relative concentrations of each of two enantiomeric forms of a compound in an enantiomeric mixture, the method comprising:

combining the enantiomeric mixture with carbon nanotubes or graphene to form a carbon-enantiomer mixture;

exposing the carbon-enantiomer mixture to a monochromatic polarized light;

analyzing reflected monochromatic polarized light from the carbon-enantiomer mixture using a differential analyzer; and

determining the relative concentrations of each of the two enantiomeric forms of the compound in the enantiomeric mixture.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the analyzing step comprises:

observing a differential binding parameter of the carbon-enantiomer mixture in a circular dichroism experiment; and

comparing the differential-binding parameter of the carbon-enantiomer mixture to a known differential-binding parameter curve of known concentration carbon-enantiomer mixtures to determine the relative concentrations of the enantiomeric forms in the enantiomeric mixture.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the combining comprises sonicating the enantiomeric mixture with the carbon nanotubes or the graphene.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the enantiomeric mixture is sonicated with the carbon nanotubes.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the carbon nanotubes are in a zigzag conformation.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the enantiomeric mixture is sonicated with the graphene.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein the enantiomeric mixture and the carbon nanotubes or the graphene are combined in water.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises combining the enantiomeric mixture with the graphene to form the carbon-enantiomer mixture.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the combining comprises sonicating the enantiomeric mixture with the graphene.

10. A method of determining a concentration of zigzag conformation single-walled carbon nanotubes in a solution, the method comprising:

contacting the solution comprising single-walled carbon nanotubes with a solution comprising an enantiomerically pure compound to form a mixed solution;

measuring a change in ellipticity of the solution as a function of wavelength in a circular dichroism experiment;

comparing the change in ellipticity of the solution to a change in ellipticity of standardized concentration solutions of the zigzag conformation single-walled carbon nanotubes; and

determining the concentration of the zigzag conformation single-walled carbon nanotubes in the solution.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the enantiomerically pure compound is enantiomerically pure tryptophan.

12. A method of chiral separation comprising:

contacting a first solution with a column, wherein the first solution comprises a mixture of a first enantiomer and a second enantiomer, and the column consists essentially of single-walled carbon nanotubes, multi-walled carbon nanotubes, or graphene;

eluting from the column a second solution comprising an elevated concentration of the first enantiomer as compared to a concentration of the first enantiomer in the first solution.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the first enantiomer is a dextrorotary enantiomer.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the first enantiomer is a levorotatory enantiomer.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the first enantiomer is D-tryptophan and the second enantiomer is L-tryptophan.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the column is a liquid chromatography column, a high pressure liquid chromatography column, or a flow cytometry column.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein the column comprises single-walled carbon nanotubes.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the single-walled carbon nanotubes have a zigzag configuration.

19. The method of claim 12 , wherein the first solution and the second solution comprise water, acetone, toluene, and carbon tetrachloride.