The concentration profiles and phase properties of symmetric fluid mixtures
confined by parallel planar walls are analyzed for the cases of identical
and symmetrically opposed fields at the walls. We focus on the occurrence o
f phase separation otherwise absent in bulk mixtures and find that this can
take place when chemical potentials and molecular interactions are modifie
d at the surfaces. The phenomenon may find application in the resolution of
racemic mixtures of enantiomers. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights
reserved.