Enantiospecific Electrodeposition of a Chiral Catalyst
Abstract
Many biomolecules are chiral-they can exist in one of two enantiomeric forms that only differ in that their structures are mirror images of each other. Because only one enantiomer tends to be physiologically active while the other is inactive or even toxic, drug compounds are increasingly produced in an enantiomerically pure form using solution-phase homogeneous catalysts and enzymes. Chiral surfaces offer the possibility of developing heterogeneous enantioselective catalysts that can more readily be separated from the products and reused. In addition, such surfaces might serve as electrochemical sensors for chiral molecules. To date, chiral surfaces have been obtained by adsorbing chiral molecules or slicing single crystals so that they exhibit high-index faces, and some of these surfaces act as enantioselective heterogeneous catalysts. Here we show that chiral surfaces can also be produced through alectrodeposition, a relatively simple solution-based process that resembles biomineralization in that organic molecules adsorbed on surfaces have profound effects on the morphology of the inorganic deposits. When electrodepositing a copper oxide film on an achiral gold surface in the presence of tartrate ion in the deposition solution, the chirality of the ion determines the chirality of the deposited film, which in turn determines the film's enantiospecificity during subsequent electrochemical oxidation reactions.
Recommended Citation
J. A. Switzer et al., "Enantiospecific Electrodeposition of a Chiral Catalyst," Nature, Nature Publishing Group, Jan 2003.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01990
Department(s)
Chemistry
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
0028-0836
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2003 Nature Publishing Group, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Jan 2003
