Long-range chiral recognition due to substrate locking and substrate-adsorbate charge transfer

First-principles calculations are used to rationalize the long-range chiral recognition between adenine and phenylglycine adsorbed on Cu(110) [Chen and Richardson, Nature Mater. 2, 324 (2003)]. The enantiomeric interaction is traced to substrate-mediated Coulomb repulsion and template effects. The mechanism revealed here (i) shows that the Easson and Stedman model for chiral recognition may include long-range electrostatic interactions and (ii) illustrates the catalytic potential of the substrate for molecular self-assembly.