Chiral assemblies of nickel lysinate via the corrosive adsorption of (S)-lysine on Ni/Au{111}

The adsorption of (S)-lysine onto submonolayer coverages of Ni on Au{111} was investigated by scanning tunnelling microscopy and reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy. Arrays of two-dimensional Ni nanoclusters were prepared on the Au{111} surface. The sticking probability of (S)-lysine was found to increase by an order of magnitude on Au surfaces templated by Ni compared to the clean Au surface. (S)-lysine corrodes Ni from the edges of clusters forming nickel lysinate complexes which self-assemble to form ordered molecular arrays. Below a threshold coverage, the Ni clusters are completely destroyed by (S)-lysine adsorption. Under these conditions, extensive restructuring of the Au steps is observed. The implications of our work for understanding the role of chiral modifiers in Ni catalysed enantioselective catalysis are discussed.