The electron stimulated chemistry of methyl lactate on Cu(111)

The electron stimulated chemistry of monolayers of (R)/(S)-methyl lactate ((S)/(R)-MLAc) adsorbed on Cu(1 1 1) has been investigated. Monolayers of MLAc undergo highly efficient electron stimulated processes predominately desorption, but also a significant fraction is converted to an adsorbed alkoxide moiety through the selective cleavage of the O-H bond. The efficiency of the depletion of the adsorbed MLAc state and the absence of significant non-selective fragmentation contrasts with previous studies of the electron beam irradiation of monolayers of oxygen containing organic molecules.