Fundamental Investigations of Enantioselective Heterogeneous Catalysis

Enantioselective heterogeneous catalysis is an important and rapidly expanding research area. The two most heavily researched examples of this type of catalysis are the enantioselective hydrogenation of α-ketoesters over Pt-based catalysts and the enantioselective hydrogenation of β-ketoesters over Ni-based catalysts. These systems share one extremely important common feature—the enantioselective surface reaction is controlled by the presence of adsorbed chiral molecules (modifiers) on the surface of the metal component of the catalyst. In each system, a number of models have been proposed to explain the enantioselective behavior in the light of catalytic experiments. In recent years, surface science has begun to address the issues relevant to this branch of catalysis. This article reviews to what extent surface science has enabled the verification of the proposed models and, in addition, what new light surface science has shed on the possible mechanisms of enantioselective heterogeneous catalysis.