Homochiral oligopeptides generated via an asymmetric induction in racemic 2D crystallites at the air–water interface; the system ethyl/thio-ethyl esters of long-chain amphiphilic (alpha)-amino acids

Ne-stearoyl-lysine-ethyl-ester (C18-OE-Lys) operates as an efficient desymmetrizing agent for the generation of homochiral oligopeptides via a reaction catalyzed by silver ions in two-dimensional (2D) quasi-racemic crystallites of the corresponding thio-ester (C18-TE-Lys) self-assembled on water.