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Updated: Nov 17, 2025

Computation of Atmospheric Concentrations of Molecular Clusters from ab initio Thermochemistry
Published on: April 8, 2020
Molecular Adsorption on Cold Gas-Phase Hydrogen-Bonded Clusters of Chiral Molecules
Hiromori Murashima1, Akimasa Fujihara2
1Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Osaka Prefecture University, Osaka, 599-8531, Japan.
Abstract:
Gas-phase molecular adsorption was investigated as a model for molecular cloud formation. Molecular adsorption on cold gas-phase hydrogen-bonded clusters containing protonated tryptophan (Trp) enantiomers and monosaccharides such as methyl-α-D-glucoside, D-ribose, and D-arabinose was detected using a tandem mass spectrometer equipped with an electrospray ionization source and cold ion trap. The adsorption sites on the surface of cold gas-phase hydrogen-bonded cluster ions were quantified using gas-phase N2 adsorption-mass spectrometry. The gas-phase N2 adsorption experiments indicated that the number of adsorption sites on the surface of the hydrogen-bonded heterochiral clusters containing L-Trp and D-monosaccharides exceeded the number of adsorption sites on the homochiral clusters containing D-Trp and D-monosaccharides. H2O molecules were preferentially adsorbed on the heterochiral clusters, and larger water clusters were formed in the gas phase. Physical and chemical properties of cold gas-phase hydrogen-bonded clusters containing biological molecules were useful for investigating enantiomer selectivity and chemical evolution in interstellar molecular clouds.
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