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Updated: Mar 29, 2026

Coulomb Explosion Imaging as a Tool to Distinguish Between Stereoisomers
Published on: August 18, 2017
Communication: Probing the absolute configuration of chiral molecules at aqueous interfaces
Stephan Lotze1, Jan Versluis1, Luuk L C Olijve2
1FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics, Science Park 104, 1098 XG Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
We demonstrate that the enantiomers of chiral macromolecules at an aqueous interface can be distinguished with monolayer sensitivity using heterodyne-detected vibrational sum-frequency generation (VSFG). We perform VSFG spectroscopy with a polarization combination that selectively probes chiral molecular structures. By using frequencies far detuned from electronic resonances, we probe the chiral macromolecular structures with high surface specificity. The phase of the sum-frequency light generated by the chiral molecules is determined using heterodyne detection. With this approach, we can distinguish right-handed and left-handed helical peptides at a water-air interface. We thus show that heterodyne-detected VSFG is sensitive to the absolute configuration of complex, interfacial macromolecules and has the potential to determine the absolute configuration of enantiomers at interfaces.
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