Bestowing chirality to metals is central in fields such as heterogeneous catalysis and modern optics. Although the bulk phase of metals is symmetric, their surfaces can become chiral through adsorption of molecules. Interestingly, even achiral molecules can lead to locally chiral, though globally racemic, surfaces. A similar situation can be obtained for metal particles or clusters. Here we report the first separation of the enantiomers of a gold cluster protected by achiral thiolates, Au₃₈(SCH₂CH₂Ph)₂₄, achieved by chiral high-performance liquid chromatography. The chirality of the nanocluster arises from the chiral arrangement of the thiolates on its surface, forming 'staple motifs'. The enantiomers show mirror-image circular dichroism responses and large anisotropy factors of up to 4×10⁻³. Comparison with reported circular dichroism spectra of other Au₃₈ clusters reveals that the influence of the ligand on the chiroptical properties is minor.

Small copper nanoclusters (CuNCs) with atomic precisions and fascinating molecular-like properties have been discovered during last few decades. They have been widely applied for catalytic, biomedical, sensing, and optoelectronic applications.

The gold–sulphur interface of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) was extensively studied some time ago. More recently tremendous progress has been made in the preparation and characterization of thiolate-protected gold clusters. In this feature article we address different properties of the two systems such as their structure, the mobility of the thiolates on the surface and other dynamical aspects, the chirality of the structures and characteristics related to it and their vibrational properties. SAMs and clusters are in the focus of different communities that typically use different experimental approaches to study the respective systems. However, it seems that the nature of the Au–S interfaces in the two cases is quite similar. Recent single crystal X-ray structures of thiolate-protected gold clusters reveal staple motifs characterized by gold ad-atoms sandwiched between two sulphur atoms. This finding contradicts older work on SAMs. However, newer studies on SAMs also reveal ad-atoms. Whether this finding can be generalized remains to be shown. In any case, more and more studies highlight the dynamic nature of the Au–S interface, both on flat surfaces and in clusters. At temperatures slightly above ambient thiolates migrate on the gold surface and on clusters. Evidence for desorption of thiolates at room temperature, at least under certain conditions, has been demonstrated for both systems. The adsorbed thiolate can lead to chirality at different lengths scales, which has been shown both on surfaces and for clusters. Chirality emerges from the organization of the thiolates as well as locally at the molecular level. Chirality can also be transferred from a chiral surface to an adsorbate, as evidenced by vibrational spectroscopy.

The transfer of chirality from one set of molecules to another is fundamental for applications in chiral technology and has likely played a crucial role for establishing homochirality on earth. Here we show that an intrinsically chiral gold cluster can transfer its handedness to an achiral molecule adsorbed on its surface. Solutions of chiral Au₃₈(2-PET)₂₄ (2-PET=2-phenylethylthiolate) cluster enantiomers show strong vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) signals in vibrations of the achiral adsorbate. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that 2-PET molecules adopt a chiral conformation. Chirality transfer from the cluster to the achiral adsorbate is responsible for the preference of one of the two mirror images. Intermolecular interactions between the adsorbed molecules on the crowded cluster surface seem to play a dominant role for the phenomena. Such chirality transfer from metals to adsorbates likely plays an important role in heterogeneous enantioselective catalysis.