A protonated L-cysteine adsorption on gold surface: A molecular dynamics study

The adsorption of protonated L-cysteine onto Au(111) surface was studied via molecular dynamics method. The detailed examination of trajectories reveals that a couple of picoseconds need to be strongly adsorbed at the gold surface via L-cysteine's sulfur and oxygen atoms. The average distances of L-cysteine's adsorbed sulfur and oxygen from gold plane are-2.7 angstrom and-3.2 angstrom, correspondingly. We found that the adsorption of L-cysteine takes place preferentially at bridge site with possibility of-82%. Discussing the conformation features of protonated L-cysteine, we consider that the most stable conformation of protonated L-cysteine is reverse boat position, where sulfur and oxygen pointed down to the gold surface, while the amino group is far from the gold surface.

Automated summary

The study revealed that protonated L-cysteine strongly adsorbs onto the gold surface via its sulfur and oxygen atoms, with an average distance of -2.7 angstrom and -3.2 angstrom respectively. The adsorption mainly occurs at the bridge site with a probability of 82%.