The enantioselective adsorption of racemic 1-phenyl-1,2-ethanediol (PED) by carboxymethyl-beta-cyclodextrin-intercalated Zn-Al-layered double hydroxides (CMCD-LDHs) has been studied. The adsorption isotherms of enantioselective as well as nonenantioselective adsorption of PED by CMCD-LDHs have been investigated, and it was found that the Langmuir-Frendlich and Frendlich model can be respectively used to describe the two different adsorptions satisfactorily. Furthermore, the intraparticle diffusion model is successfully validated in this work. Intraparticle effective diffusivities (D-eff) of PED in CMCD-LDHs macroparticle were determined from the homogeneous Fickian diffusion model, increasing with the increase of PED bulk phase concentration (C-0), which indicates the existence of parallel diffusion (crystallites diffusion and pore diffusion). The crystallites diffusivity (D-c) and pore diffusivity (D-p) for the parallel diffusion model were determined from the intercept and slope of the plot of D-eff(1+1/alpha) vs. 1/alpha, respectively. (c) 2007 American Institute of Chemical Engineers