Abstract
The fast and accurate analysis of chiral chemical mixtures is crucial for many applications but remains challenging. Here we use elliptically-polarized femtosecond laser pulses at high repetition rates to photoionize chiral molecules. The 3D photoelectron angular distribution produced provides molecular fingerprints, showing a strong forward-backward asymmetry which depends sensitively on the molecular structure and degree of ellipticity. Continuously scanning the laser ellipticity and analyzing the evolution of the rich, multi-dimensional molecular signatures allows us to observe real-time changes in the chemical and chiral content present with unprecedented speed and accuracy. We measure the enantiomeric excess of a compound with an accuracy of 0.4% in 10 min acquisition time, and follow the evolution of a mixture with an accuracy of 5% with a temporal resolution of 3 s. This method is even able to distinguish isomers, which cannot be easily distinguished by mass-spectrometry.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 5212 |
Journal | Nature Communications |
Volume | 9 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 01 Dec 2018 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Chemistry
- General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
- General Physics and Astronomy
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Dive into the research topics of 'Real-time determination of enantiomeric and isomeric content using photoelectron elliptical dichroism'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Student theses
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Determining molecular chirality with femtosecond LASERs
Bond, C. (Author), Greenwood, J. (Supervisor) & Williams, I. (Supervisor), Jul 2021Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy
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