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Chiral Symmetry Breaking Observed for Cysteine on the Au(110)-(1×2) Surface

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Abstract

A pronounced enantiomeric excess of ll-cysteine dimers is observed by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) on the Au(110)-(1×2) surface after partial thermal desorption/decomposition of racemic cysteine. We systematically examine several possible origins for this intriguing observation of chiral symmetry breaking, including a chiral bias of the substrate, but remain unable to identify the source.

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Notes

  1. A chiral bias in the deposited material could be achieved by either depositing different amounts of enantiomerically pure cysteine from two separate sources, or possibly by using a single source loaded with racemic DL cysteine enriched with enantiomerically pure l or d cysteine in which case the enantiomeric ratio in the deposit is determined by the vapour pressures of the racemate and the enantiopure crystals which in general are expected to be different [19].

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge financial support from the Danish Council for Independent Research | Natural Sciences, The Villum Kahn Foundation, The Carlsberg Foundation, the European Research Council (ERC) and the Danish National Research Foundation for support to the Sino-Danish Center for Molecular Nanostructures on Surfaces. AK acknowledges financial support from the German Research Foundation (DFG) through the Emmy Noether-program KU 1980/1-3.

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Author notes

  1. Angelika Kühnle

    Present address: Institut für Physikalische Chemie, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Jakob-Welder-Weg 11, 55099, Mainz, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO) and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 118, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark

    Angelika Kühnle, Trolle R. Linderoth & Flemming Besenbacher

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  1. Angelika Kühnle
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  2. Trolle R. Linderoth
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  3. Flemming Besenbacher
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Correspondence to Trolle R. Linderoth.

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Kühnle, A., Linderoth, T.R. & Besenbacher, F. Chiral Symmetry Breaking Observed for Cysteine on the Au(110)-(1×2) Surface. Top Catal 54, 1384–1391 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11244-011-9765-z

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