MECHANISM OF ENANTIOFACE DIFFERENTIATING HYDROGENATION ON MODIFIED NICKEL SURFACES

Abstract- Recent studies on the mechanism of enantioface differentiation are described for the hydrogenation of methyl acetoacetate (MAA) over nickel surfaces modified with optically active molecules. Detailed investigations of the reaction using MAA vapor and tartaric acid as a modifier prove that the differentiation is controlled by the oriented adsorption of MAA which is caused by the attractive interaction between MAA and the modifier molecules. The influence of the conditions of reaction and the added poisons on the asymmetric yield is discussed on the basis of the proposed mechanism