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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. The...

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...

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...

Prochirality

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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...

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...

Properties of Enantiomers and Optical Activity

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It is essential to understand the difference between chiral and achiral interactions and the implications thereof in optical activity and their applications. Just as our feet, which are chiral, interact uniquely with chiral objects, such as a pair of shoes, but identically with achiral socks, enantiomers of a molecule exhibit different properties only when they interact with other chiral media. An example of a significant implication from this facet is the phenomenon known as optical activity,...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 12, 2026

Experimental Methods for Spin- and Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy Combined with Polarization-Variable Laser

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Published on: June 28, 2018

First-Principles Analysis of Chirality-Induced Spin Selectivity at Molecule-Metal Interfaces in Photoemission.

Amos Afugu¹, Gyanu P Kafle¹, Zhen-Fei Liu¹

¹Department of Chemistry, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48202, United States.

|July 10, 2026

Summary

Chirality-induced spin selectivity in photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) is influenced by the hybrid interface electronic structure, not just molecular chirality. Opposite enantiomers show symmetry-related responses, suggesting interface effects dominate spin polarization.

Keywords:

Chirality-Induced Spin Selectivity Circularly Polarized Light First Principles Linearly Polarized Light.Photoemission

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Area of Science:

Surface science
Quantum chemistry
Spectroscopy

Background:

Spin-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) is used to study spin selectivity in chiral molecules.
The origin of spin polarization in PES at chiral molecule-metal interfaces is debated.
It is unclear if spin polarization reflects molecular chirality or interface electronic structure.

Purpose of the Study:

To analyze the origin of PES spin polarization at chiral molecule-metal interfaces.
To investigate the role of molecular chirality versus interface electronic structure.
To provide a holistic first-principles analysis of the interface.

Main Methods:

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations.
Three-step photoemission framework.
Computation of spin polarization for chiral molecules (heptahelicenes) and a nonchiral control (coronene) on metal surfaces (Au(111), Cu(111)).

Main Results:

Adsorption significantly alters PES spin polarization compared to clean metal surfaces.
Opposite enantiomers of chiral molecules produce symmetry-related spin polarization responses.
Spin polarization is strongly dependent on the electronic structure of the hybrid interface.

Conclusions:

The electronic structure of the hybrid interface plays a dominant role in PES spin polarization.
Molecular chirality alone does not solely determine the observed spin polarization.
PES spin polarization is a complex phenomenon arising from the interplay between molecule and substrate.