Scanning tunneling microscopy studies of alanine and phenylalanine molecules adsorbed on graphite

Abstract

As a part of our sequential studies on amino acids, in the present work with the scanning tunneling microscope we have studies alanine and phenylalanine molecules adsorbed on graphite and covered with a glycerol-water solution. In addition to discussing the rich-ordered structures seen from the STM images, we summarize all of the points which we think are important to obtaining atomic resolution. Several plausible models for phenylalanine adsorbates on a graphite substrate are proposed for further studies.