title: Chiral Selective Chemistry Induced by Natural Selection of Spin-Polarized Electrons.
abstract: The search to understand the origin of homochirality in nature has been ongoing since the time of Pasteur. Previous work has shown that DNA can act as a spin filter for low-energy electrons and that spin-polarized secondary electrons produced by X-ray irradiation of a magnetic substrate can induce chiral selective chemistry. In the present work it is demonstrated that secondary electrons from a substrate that are transmitted through a chiral overlayer cause enantiomeric selective chemistry in an adsorbed adlayer. We determine the quantum yields (QYs) for dissociation of (R)- or (S)-epichlorohydrin adsorbed on a chiral self-assembled layer of DNA on gold and on bare gold (for control). The results show that there is a significant difference in the QYs between the two enantiomers when adsorbed on DNA, but none when they are adsorbed on bare Au. We propose that the effect results from natural spin filtering effects cause by the chiral monolayer.
authors.affiliation: Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439 (USA). rar@aps.anl.gov.
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Rosenberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Physics, Weizmann Institute, Rehovot 76100 (Israel).
authors.forename: Debabrata
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mishra
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Physics, Weizmann Institute, Rehovot 76100 (Israel).
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Naaman
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D002728:Chlorohydrins / Q000737:chemistry*; D004583:Electrons; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry; D061925:Immobilized Nucleic Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D056951:Photoelectron Spectroscopy; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D013499:Surface Properties; D014965:X-Rays
chemical_list: D002728:Chlorohydrins; D061925:Immobilized Nucleic Acids; D006046:Gold
keywords: DNA; chirality; enantioselectivity; photoelectron spectroscopy; surface chemistry