An IC calorimeter was developed for the investigation of enantioselective gas-surface interactions. The calorimeter is based on a commercially available silicon thermopile chip. Due to its small time constant heat power pulses of 200 muJ are measurable with a deviation of less than 2%. Systematic errors were analyzed by studying the flow rate dependence of the signal. An error level of less than 5% could be estimated by reference measurements with a conventional microcalorimeter. As an example of application the energetics of absorption of the two enantiomers of methyl-2-chloropropionate into a thin film of the chiral receptor octakis(3-O-butanoyl-2,6-di-O-n-pentyl)-gamma-cyclodextrin and into an achiral layer of polydimethylsiloxane was studied. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.