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Prochirality

Prochirality

The concept of prochirality leads to the nomenclature of the individual faces of a molecule and plays a crucial role in the enantioselective reaction. It is a concept where two or more achiral molecules react to produce chiral products. A typical process is the reaction of an achiral ketone to generate a chiral alcohol. Here, the achiral reactant reacts with an achiral reducing agent, sodium borohydride, to generate an equimolar mixture of the chiral enantiomers of the product. For example, an...

Mechanism of Ciliary Motion

Mechanism of Ciliary Motion

The ciliary structures were first seen in 1647 by Antonie Leeuwenhoek while observing the protozoans. In lower organisms, these appendages are responsible for cell movement, while in higher organisms, these appendages help in the movement of the extracellular fluids within the body cavities.
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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.

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...

Molecules with Multiple Chiral Centers

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Molecules that possess multiple chiral centers can afford a large number of stereoisomers. For instance, while some molecules like 2-butanol have one chiral center, defined as a tetrahedral carbon atom with four different substituents attached, several molecules like butane-2,3-diol have multiple chiral centers. A simple formula to predict the number of stereoisomers possible for a molecule with n chiral centers is 2n. However, there can be a lower number where some of the stereoisomers are...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 11, 2025

Light-driven Molecular Motors on Surfaces for Single Molecular Imaging

Light-driven Molecular Motors on Surfaces for Single Molecular Imaging

Published on: March 13, 2019

Chirality-Specific Unidirectional Rotation of Molecular Motors on Cu(111).

Monika Schied¹, Deborah Prezzi², Dongdong Liu³

¹Department of Physical Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, University of Graz, Heinrichstraße 28, 8010 Graz, Austria.

|February 9, 2023

Summary

Single molecules on surfaces exhibit chiral-dependent rotation. This motion, driven by voltage pulses, is a rigid body rotation, not motor activation, and is enantiomer-specific.

Keywords:

adsorption chirality molecular motors nano machines scanning tunnelling microscopy single-crystal surface unidirectional rotation

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A Micropatterning Assay for Measuring Cell Chirality

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Last Updated: Aug 11, 2025

Light-driven Molecular Motors on Surfaces for Single Molecular Imaging

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Published on: March 13, 2019

Motility of Single Molecules and Clusters of Bi-Directional Kinesin-5 Cin8 Purified from S. cerevisiae Cells

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A Micropatterning Assay for Measuring Cell Chirality

A Micropatterning Assay for Measuring Cell Chirality

Published on: March 11, 2022

Area of Science:

Surface science
Chemical physics
Nanotechnology

Background:

Molecular motors are known for unidirectional motion in solution.
Their behavior on solid surfaces is less understood.
Understanding surface interactions is key for nanoscale device development.

Purpose of the Study:

Investigate single molecular dynamics on a solid surface.
Determine the mechanism and chirality dependence of molecular rotation.
Differentiate between motor-driven motion and rigid body rotation.

Main Methods:

Adsorption of single molecules on a Cu(111) surface.
Excitation using voltage pulses from a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip.
Analysis of molecular rotation and comparison with theoretical calculations.

Main Results:

Molecules rotate around a fixed pivot point on the surface, determined by chemical bonding.
Rotation direction is enantiomer-specific, depending on molecular chirality.
Observed rotation is a rigid body motion, not due to motor activation, and requires less energy than propeller-like activity.

Conclusions:

Chirality dictates the rotation direction of single molecules on surfaces.
Surface-induced rotation can mimic motor function but is a distinct physical process.
This finding has implications for designing chiral nanodevices.