Assembling molecular guidance systems for heterogeneous enantioselective catalysis

Creating successful heterogeneous enantioselective catalysts remains an important goal for the chemicals and pharmaceuticals industries, with considerable attention being focused on chirally modified metals as promising candidates. Here, recent surface science results are reviewed, which throw, a new and intriguing light on these modified metal surfaces, highlighting new phenomena such as complex adsorption phases, two-dimensional organization, and the surprising creation of extended chiral surfaces. This molecular level information provides an important and fresh input into future design strategies.