Enantiospecific Affinities of Chiral Cu Films for Both d-Ribose and l-Amino Acids

As typical biosignature molecules of life, ribose and amino acids are present in d - and l -chiral configurations, respectively. The enantiospecific affinities of inorganic surfaces for both configurations would provide evidence for emergence of molecular chirality from the prebiotic world and play key roles in symmetry breaking of biomolecules. Herein, we fabricated chiral Cu films (CCFs) to investigate the behaviors of chiral inorganic surfaces with simultaneous enantioselectivity for both ribose and amino acids. Differential pulse voltammograms showed that the oxidation currents for both l -amino acids and d -ribose on CCFs synthesized with l -histidine (His) as a chirality-inducing agent were higher than those of their antipodes, indicating specific affinities on the same Cu chiral surface. Adsorption energies of ribose and amino acid enantiomers on the S-enantiomorphs of chiral kink sites suggested that stronger interactions between both d -ribose and l -amino acids with chiral kink sites were the source of specific enantioselectivity. This work provided important clues to explore possible roles of inorganic surfaces on the origin of chirality in life.