Explosive enantiospecific decomposition of aspartic acid on Cu surfaces.

Aspartic acid adsorbed on Cu surfaces is doubly deprotonated. On chiral Cu(643)R&S its enantiomers undergo enantiospecific decomposition via an autocatalytic explosion. Once initiated, the decomposition mechanism proceeds via sequential cleavage of the C3-C4 and C1-C2 bonds each yielding CO2, followed by conversion of the remaining species into N[triple bond, length as m-dash]CCH3.

Influence of step faceting on the enantiospecific decomposition of aspartic acid on chiral Cu surfaces vicinal to Cu{111}.

On surfaces vicinal to Cu{111}, l-aspartic acid (l-Asp) adsorption causes steps to facet enantiospecifically into {310}R and {320}S steps. l-Asp has its highest heat of adsortion on surfaces that naturally expose the {310}R or {320}S steps but decomposes preferentially on the {310}R steps.