Hannover 2016 – scientific programme
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SYML: Symposium From First Molecules to Life
SYML 2: Molecules and Ions in Isolation
SYML 2.5: Talk
Wednesday, March 2, 2016, 16:00–16:15, e415
Chiral rotational spectroscopy — •Robert Cameron1,2, Jörg Götte1,2, and Stephen Barnett2 — 1Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, Dresden, Deutschland — 2School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
We present a new technique for the rotational spectroscopy of chiral molecules which enables the determination of individual components G′XX, G′YY, G′ZZ, AX,YZ, AY,ZX and AZ,XY of the optical activity polarisability. Knowledge of these components fully characterises the enantiomeric constitution of a molecule. Our method gives an incisive signal for molecules with multiple chiral centres and even if the various stereoisomers of the chiral molecule are in a racemic mixture.
The necessary requirements on which our technique is based can also be found in space, which is why our method can also be exploited in the search for the molecular chirality in the interstellar medium, which, if found, could explain the existence of the biological homochirality of life as we know it.