Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Chirality

Chirality

Chirality is a term that describes the lack of mirror symmetry in an object. In other words, chiral objects cannot be superposed on their mirror images. For example, our feet are chiral, as the mirror image of the left foot, the right foot, cannot be superposed on the left foot.
Chiral objects exhibit a sense of handedness when they interact with another chiral object. For example, our left foot can only fit in the left shoe and not in the right shoe. Achiral objects — objects that have...

Chirality in Nature

Chirality in Nature

Chirality is the most intriguing yet essential facet of nature, governing life’s biochemical processes and precision. It can be observed from a snail shell pattern in a macroscopic world to an amino acid, the minutest building block of life. Most of the snails around the world have right-coiled shells because of the intrinsic chirality in their genes. All the amino acids present in the human body exist in an enantiomerically pure state, except for glycine - the sole achiral amino acid.

Bonding in Metals

Bonding in Metals

Metallic bonds are formed between two metal atoms. A simplified model to describe metallic bonding has been developed by Paul Drüde called the “Electron Sea Model”.

Metallic Solids

Metallic Solids

Metallic solids such as crystals of copper, aluminum, and iron are formed by metal atoms. The structure of metallic crystals is often described as a uniform distribution of atomic nuclei within a “sea” of delocalized electrons. The atoms within such a metallic solid are held together by a unique force known as metallic bonding that gives rise to many useful and varied bulk properties.
All metallic solids exhibit high thermal and electrical conductivity, metallic luster, and malleability....

Alkali Metals

Alkali Metals

Group 1 elements are soft and shiny metallic solids. They are malleable, ductile, and good conductors of heat and electricity. The melting points of the alkali metals are unusually low for metals and decrease going down the group, while the density increases going down the group with the exception of potassium (Table 1).
Table 1: Properties of the alkali metals

Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur

Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur

Chirality is most prevalent in carbon-based tetrahedral compounds, but this important facet of molecular symmetry extends to sp3-hybridized nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur centers, including trivalent molecules with lone pairs. Here, the lone pair behaves as a functional group in addition to the other three substituents to form an analogous tetrahedral center that can be chiral.
A consequence of chirality is the need for enantiomeric resolution. While this is theoretically possible for all...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Light-driven toluene ammoxidation via mixture photocatalyst of halide perovskite Cs<sub>3</sub>Bi<sub>2</sub>Br<sub>9</sub> and TiO<sub>2</sub>.

Science advances·2026

Same author

Sustainable and Scalable Flow Photochemical Conversions Using a Labile Ligand-Assembled Iron Complex.

JACS Au·2026

Same author

Water-Promoted Molar-Level Photocatalysis and Spontaneous Product Separation with Near-Unity Quantum Efficiency.

Journal of the American Chemical Society·2025

Same author

Dual-Emulsifier Coated Photocatalyst for H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> Synthesis in Emulsion via Water Oxidation.

Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)·2025

Same author

Photocatalytic Partial Water Dissociation by Protonated Carbon Nitride for Hydrogenation Reactions.

Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English)·2025

Same author

Photocatalytic Partial Water Oxidation Promoted by a Hydrogen Acceptor-Hydroxyl Mediator Couple.

Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)·2024

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 11, 2026

Development of Heterogeneous Enantioselective Catalysts using Chiral Metal-Organic Frameworks MOFs

Development of Heterogeneous Enantioselective Catalysts using Chiral Metal-Organic Frameworks MOFs

Published on: January 17, 2020

A Chiral Metal Surface.

Michael Schunack¹, Erik Laegsgaard¹, Ivan Stensgaard¹

¹CAMP and Institute of Physics and Astronomy University of Aarhus Ny Munkegade, 8000 Aarhus C (Denmark) Fax: (+45) 86120740.

Angewandte Chemie (International Ed. in English)

|May 2, 2018

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Chiral molecules adsorbed on metal surfaces can induce chirality, creating unique kink sites. This surface restructuring offers new possibilities for chiral material design.

Keywords:

chirality interfaces monolayers nanostructures scanning probe microscopy

More Related Videos

A Method to Manipulate Surface Tension of a Liquid Metal via Surface Oxidation and Reduction

A Method to Manipulate Surface Tension of a Liquid Metal via Surface Oxidation and Reduction

Published on: January 26, 2016

Surface Functionalization of Metal-Organic Frameworks for Improved Moisture Resistance

Surface Functionalization of Metal-Organic Frameworks for Improved Moisture Resistance

Published on: September 5, 2018

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Feb 11, 2026

Development of Heterogeneous Enantioselective Catalysts using Chiral Metal-Organic Frameworks MOFs

Development of Heterogeneous Enantioselective Catalysts using Chiral Metal-Organic Frameworks MOFs

Published on: January 17, 2020

A Method to Manipulate Surface Tension of a Liquid Metal via Surface Oxidation and Reduction

A Method to Manipulate Surface Tension of a Liquid Metal via Surface Oxidation and Reduction

Published on: January 26, 2016

Surface Functionalization of Metal-Organic Frameworks for Improved Moisture Resistance

Surface Functionalization of Metal-Organic Frameworks for Improved Moisture Resistance

Published on: September 5, 2018

Area of Science:

Surface Science
Materials Chemistry
Chirality Studies

Background:

Achiral metal surfaces typically exhibit symmetric properties.
Molecular overlayers can significantly alter surface characteristics.
Chirality is a crucial property in various scientific fields, including chemistry and materials science.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the surface restructuring induced by chiral molecular adsorption.
To explore the formation of chiral kink sites on metal surfaces.
To understand the mechanism of chirality induction from molecular adsorbates to achiral surfaces.

Main Methods:

Adsorption of 2,5,8,11,14,17-hexa-(tert-butyl)decacyclene on Cu{110} surface.
Surface characterization techniques to observe structural changes.
Analysis of the resulting surface topography and chirality.

Main Results:

Pronounced surface restructuring observed upon adsorption.
Formation of distinct chiral kink sites on the Cu{110} surface.
Evidence for the adsorbed chiral molecule inducing chirality in the achiral surface.

Conclusions:

Chiral molecular overlayers can induce significant surface restructuring.
The formation of chiral kink sites is a direct consequence of this induced chirality.
This phenomenon opens avenues for creating chiral surfaces from achiral precursors.