My group studies enantioselective chemistry occurring on naturally chiral metal surfaces. These are high Miller index, single-crystalline metal surfaces with no mirror symmetry and, therefore, existing as two enantiomorphs. We first demonstrated that such surfaces are chiral and then that they interact enantiospecifically with chiral adsorbed molecules. These interactions are the basis for enantioselective separations of racemic mixtures of chiral compounds. Recently we have demonstrated that autocatalytic processes occurring on these surfaces can lead to extremely high enantioselectivities.
Awards and Achievements
- ACS Ipatieff Prize