Abstract Membrane technology has been widely used to separate oil and water emulsions. However, the applications on this field has been limited to the simple separation of the oil and water phases from synthetic emulsions. This study explores the application of porous superhydrophobic composite SiO2/PVDF membranes to separate the emulsion and recover the organic phase containing S(+) ibuprofen ester after the enzyme-catalyzed kinetic resolution of racemic (R,S) ibuprofen by Candida rugosa lipase. Herein, 0.5 wt% - 2.0 wt% superhydrophobic SiO2 aerogel powder derived from methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) precursors was blended into the casting solution to obtain superhydrophobic composite membranes. The evaluation of the separation kinetics of the pristine and modified membranes were carried out by gravity-driven filtration of water-in-toluene, water-in-hexane, water-in-isooctane emulsions. Fast separation of the 50 mL feed emulsions was achieved because of the high porosity (>70%) and large pore size (>0.5 μm) of the membranes. Among the different conditions prepared, the optimal SiO2 loading was determined to be at 1.0 wt%. Thus, this composite membrane was chosen to separate the drug emulsion. According to the enzyme activity test, the permeate exhibited 0.12 absorbance units which is highly comparable to the absorbance of the controlled sample (0.10 units). This indicates that the membrane was able to effectively separate the emulsion and recover a high purity organic phase containing the potent enantiomer useful for pharmaceutical applications. Hence, it is realized in this study that membrane technology can be applied in pharmaceutical industries and can provide a more efficient and economical approach to separate drug emulsions.

中文翻译：

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用于从乳液中重力驱动分离药物对映体的超疏水 SiO2/聚（偏二氟乙烯）复合膜

摘要 膜技术已广泛应用于油水乳液的分离。然而，该领域的应用仅限于从合成乳液中简单分离油相和水相。本研究探索了多孔超疏水复合 SiO2/PVDF 膜在通过 Candida rugosa 脂肪酶对外消旋 (R,S) 布洛芬进行酶催化动力学拆分后分离乳液和回收含有 S(+) 布洛芬酯的有机相的应用。在此，将源自甲基三甲氧基硅烷 (MTMS) 前驱体的 0.5 wt% - 2.0 wt% 超疏水 SiO2 气凝胶粉末混合到浇铸溶液中以获得超疏水复合膜。原始膜和改性膜的分离动力学评估是通过甲苯包水的重力驱动过滤进行的，己烷包水、异辛烷包水乳液。由于膜的高孔隙率 (>70%) 和大孔径 (>0.5 μm)，实现了 50 mL 进料乳液的快速分离。在制备的不同条件中，最佳 SiO2 负载量确定为 1.0 wt%。因此，选择这种复合膜来分离药物乳液。根据酶活性测试，渗透物表现出 0.12 个吸光度单位，与对照样品的吸光度（0.10 个单位）高度可比。这表明该膜能够有效地分离乳液并回收高纯度有机相，该有机相含有可用于制药应用的有效对映异构体。因此，