Evidence for spontaneous resolution of icosahedral proline.

Here we show experimental evidence for the spontaneous chiral resolution of icosahedral [12Pro+H]+ cluster ion. Molecular simulations reveal that the icosahedron consists of 12 equally spaced prolines where the rigid pyrrolidine ring of each monomer is sticking out of the closed cage. The tightly packed chiral cage traps a single proton in the center cavity.