STM study of l-serine adsorption on Cu(001)

The adsorption of l-serine on Cu(001) surface at 310K was studied by scanning tunneling microscope (STM). l-serine molecules on the Cu(001) initially formed a domain of thick lines with a 2-124 order structure along the [1¯30] direction on the terraces regardless of the coverage of serine. The thick lines were partly replaced by thin line along the [3¯10] direction, and completely disappeared in 2h. It is considered that in these structures hydrogen bonds involved in hydroxymethyl group between adsorbates play some role in addition to intermolecular hydrogen bond between a hydrogen atom of amino group and an oxygen atom of carboxy group for alanine adsorption.