An in situ attenuated total reflection study of the chiral solid-liquid interface created by cinchonidine adsorption on a Pt/Al2O3 model catalyst is presented. Experiments were performed in the presence of dissolved hydrogen, that is under conditions used for the heterogeneous enantioselective hydrogenation of a-functionalized ketones. Cinchonidine adsorbs via the quinoline moiety. The adsorption mode is coverage dependent and several species coexist on the surface. At low concentration (10(-6)M) a predominantly flat adsorption mode prevails. At increasing coverage two different tilted species, alpha -H abstracted and N lone pair bonded cinchonidine, are observed. The latter is only weakly bound and in a fast dynamic equilibrium with dissolved cinchonidine. At high concentration (10(-4)-10(-3)M) all three species coexist on the Pt surface. A slow transition from an adsorbate layer with a high fraction of a-H abstracted cinchonidine to one with a high fraction of N lone pair bonded cinchonidine is observed with the cinchonidine concentration being the driving force for the process. The reverse transition in the absence of dissolved cinchonidine is fast. Cinchonidine competes with solvent decomposition products for adsorption sites on the Pt, which may contribute to the observed solvent dependence of the heterogeneous enantioselective hydrogenation of ketones by cinchonidine-modified Pt.