FORMATION OF CHIRAL INTERDIGITATED MULTILAYERS AT THE AIR-LIQUID INTERFACE THROUGH ACID-BASE INTERACTIONS

Thin interdigitated films composed of a long-chain, water-insoluble ch iral acid (p-pentadecylmandelic acid of absolute configuration R) and a water-soluble chiral base (phenylethylamine, R') were constructed at the air-solution interface. The (R, R') structure was characterized t o near-atomic resolution by grazing-incidence x-ray diffraction (GIXD) . The two diastereomeric systems, (R, R') and (R, S'), demonstrate sim ilar surface pressure-molecular area isotherms, but their structures a re completely different on the molecular level, as monitored by GIXD, Complementary data on these two architectures were provided by atomic force microscopy.