Imaging the Absolute Configuration of a Chiral Epoxide in the Gas Phase
- Philipp Herwig1,*,
- Kerstin Zawatzky2,*,
- Manfred Grieser1,
- Oded Heber3,
- Brandon Jordon-Thaden1,
- Claude Krantz1,
- Oldřich Novotný1,4,
- Roland Repnow1,
- Volker Schurig5,
- Dirk Schwalm1,3,
- Zeev Vager3,
- Andreas Wolf1,
- Oliver Trapp2,†,
- Holger Kreckel1,†
+Author Affiliations
- ↵†Corresponding author. E-mail: holger.kreckel@mpi-hd.mpg.de (H.K.); trapp@oci.uni-heidelberg.de (O.T.)
- ↵* These authors contributed equally to this work.
In chemistry and biology, chirality, or handedness, refers to molecules that exist in two spatial configurations that are incongruent mirror images of one another. Almost all biologically active molecules are chiral, and the correct determination of their absolute configuration is essential for the understanding and the development of processes involving chiral molecules. Anomalous x-ray diffraction and vibrational optical activity measurements are broadly used to determine absolute configurations of solid or liquid samples. Determining absolute configurations of chiral molecules in the gas phase is still a formidable challenge. Here we demonstrate the determination of the absolute configuration of isotopically labeled (R,R)-2,3-dideuterooxirane by foil-induced Coulomb explosion imaging of individual molecules. Our technique provides unambiguous and direct access to the absolute configuration of small gas-phase species, including ions and molecular fragments.
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