Nishino Tomoaki, Umezawa Yoshio
Department of Chemistry, School of Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
Anal Chem. 2008 Sep 15;80(18):6968-73. doi: 10.1021/ac800818f. Epub 2008 Aug 12.
Chiral surfaces attract increasing interest due to their vital role in a variety of scientific fields, such as chiral separation and heterogeneous enantioselective catalysis. The most urgent issue in research on such two-dimensional chirality is a lack of methodologies that recognize molecular chirality on a surface. Here we show that the chiral molecular tips enable for the first time discrimination of enantiomers on a single-molecule basis. The chiral selectivity is attributed to favorable chemical interactions that the molecular tips form with only one of two enantiomers. The stereoselective observation reveals spatial distribution of the enantiomers on a surface at the molecular level. The chiral molecular tips open a way for control of organization of enantiomers toward the advanced functionality of these chiral surfaces through knowledge on pivotal roles of chirality on molecular assemblies as shown here.
手性表面因其在诸如手性分离和多相不对称催化等各种科学领域中的重要作用而受到越来越多的关注。在这种二维手性研究中，最紧迫的问题是缺乏在表面识别分子手性的方法。在此，我们展示了手性分子尖端首次能够在单分子基础上区分对映体。手性选择性归因于分子尖端仅与两种对映体中的一种形成的有利化学相互作用。这种立体选择性观察揭示了对映体在表面分子水平上的空间分布。手性分子尖端通过了解手性在此处所示分子组装中的关键作用，为控制对映体的组织以实现这些手性表面的先进功能开辟了一条道路。
