Hannover 2016 – scientific programme
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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik
MO 9: Biomolecules and Photochemistry
MO 9.5: Talk
Tuesday, March 1, 2016, 15:45–16:00, f102
Molecular structure and chirality decrypted by rotational spectroscopy — •Sérgio R. Domingos1, Cristóbal Pérez1, David Schmitz1, Anna Krin1, Amanda Steber1, David Patterson2, and Melanie Schnell1 — 1Max-Planck-Institut für Struktur und Dynamik der Materie, Hamburg, Germany — 2Physics Department, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, United States
The ability to determine the conformation and handedness of chiral molecules is crucial in establishing how molecular structure and biological activity are related. Thus, fast and reliable methods that can analyze chiral mixtures are of utmost importance and are increasing in demand in chemical and pharmaceutical sciences. Chiral analysis using broadband rotational spectroscopy has been recently demonstrated [1] and is paving the way towards becoming an established analytical tool for chirality detection: radiation associated with a loop of three dipole-allowed rotational transitions is emitted exactly out of phase by molecules of opposite chirality, thus providing a direct signal of molecular chirality. The double-resonance scheme with two orthogonally-polarized transient electromagnetic fields results in the emission of microwave radiation along a third, mutually-orthogonal polarization, which we detect. The phase information encoded in the microwave field reveals the sign of the dipole-moment triple-product. Due to its resonant nature, microwave three-wave-mixing is developing into a probe of chirality with unprecedented conformer-selective capabilities. Recent studies on terpenes will be presented and discussed.
[1] Patterson D, Schnell M, Doyle JM, Nature 2013, 497, 475-477.