Unraveling the Conglomeratic Nature of Methanol Clusters Adsorbed on Graphene Surfaces. Insights from Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: de la Concepción, Juan García, Jiménez-Serra, Izaskun, Alkorta, Ibon, Elguero, José, Cintas, Pedro
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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_version_ 1866916710466977792
author de la Concepción, Juan García
Jiménez-Serra, Izaskun
Alkorta, Ibon
Elguero, José
Cintas, Pedro
author_facet de la Concepción, Juan García
Jiménez-Serra, Izaskun
Alkorta, Ibon
Elguero, José
Cintas, Pedro
contents The expression of chirality in adsorption phenomena constitutes an important topic, not only relevant to asymmetric transformations involving solid surfaces, but also to the emergence of homochirality in both terrestrial and extraterrestrial scenarios. Methanol (MeOH) aggregation on graphite/graphene, one of the most idealized adsorbate-adsorbent systems, lead to islands of cyclic clusters of different sizes (Nano. Lett., 2016, 16, 3142-3147). Here, we show that this aggregation occurs enantioselectively affording 2D conglomerates depending on the size of clusters, in close analogy to a Pasteurian racemate. Homochiral sequences are held together by hydrogen bonding and other non-covalent interactions, whose absolute configurations can be appropriately specified. A discussion involving the dichotomy between 2D racemates and conglomerates, is offered as well. In addition, the present simulations showcase a broad range of acyclic and cyclic structures, even if some discrete rings are the dominant species, in agreement with previous experimental data and theoretical modeling. Our results indicate that MeOH clusters show binding energies close to the experimental values, remaining intact at temperatures as high as 120 K and up to 150 K.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_18962
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Unraveling the Conglomeratic Nature of Methanol Clusters Adsorbed on Graphene Surfaces. Insights from Molecular Dynamics Simulations
de la Concepción, Juan García
Jiménez-Serra, Izaskun
Alkorta, Ibon
Elguero, José
Cintas, Pedro
Materials Science
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
The expression of chirality in adsorption phenomena constitutes an important topic, not only relevant to asymmetric transformations involving solid surfaces, but also to the emergence of homochirality in both terrestrial and extraterrestrial scenarios. Methanol (MeOH) aggregation on graphite/graphene, one of the most idealized adsorbate-adsorbent systems, lead to islands of cyclic clusters of different sizes (Nano. Lett., 2016, 16, 3142-3147). Here, we show that this aggregation occurs enantioselectively affording 2D conglomerates depending on the size of clusters, in close analogy to a Pasteurian racemate. Homochiral sequences are held together by hydrogen bonding and other non-covalent interactions, whose absolute configurations can be appropriately specified. A discussion involving the dichotomy between 2D racemates and conglomerates, is offered as well. In addition, the present simulations showcase a broad range of acyclic and cyclic structures, even if some discrete rings are the dominant species, in agreement with previous experimental data and theoretical modeling. Our results indicate that MeOH clusters show binding energies close to the experimental values, remaining intact at temperatures as high as 120 K and up to 150 K.
title Unraveling the Conglomeratic Nature of Methanol Clusters Adsorbed on Graphene Surfaces. Insights from Molecular Dynamics Simulations
topic Materials Science
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.18962