Chiral Molecules on Metal Surfaces

The key to high enzyme selectivity toward a specific product is the unique structure of its active center. Frequently, bio-related molecules have chiral active centers that can selectively catalyze the formation of only a single enantiomer of 

One of the important questions in enantio-selective catalysis is the chemical composition of reagents and reaction intermediates during the catalytic process, that is, at elevated pressures and/or in the presence of solvents. APXPS has shown its ability to track changes in the chemical state of simple chiral organic compounds, such as amino acids, adsorbed on metals in the presence of water vapor [40, 41]. 

Cu(l 1 0). The incident photon energy was with permission from Ref [40, 41].) 

525eV in the case of Pt(l 1 1) and 510eV in the case of Cu(l 1 0). The temperature was increased at a rate of 0.1 Ks (Reproduced with permission from Refe [40. 41].) 

This example shows the importance of conducting benchmark studies at ambient conditions to check the influence of the environment on the chemical state and reaction pathway of catalytic reactions. 

---