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Chirality

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 10, 2026

Coulomb Explosion Imaging as a Tool to Distinguish Between Stereoisomers

Coulomb Explosion Imaging as a Tool to Distinguish Between Stereoisomers

Published on: August 18, 2017

Chirality-encoded molecular wavefunctions.

T Georgiou¹, J L Palma², V Mujica³

¹Molecular Biology Interdepartmental Program (MBIDP), The Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, 611 Charles E. Young Drive East, Los Angeles, California 90095-1570, USA.

The Journal of Chemical Physics

|November 24, 2025

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Spin-orbit coupling (SOC) introduces intrinsic phases in chiral molecules, enabling enantiospecific responses. These SOC-induced phases, captured by plane wave calculations, can be measured in experiments for chiral materials.

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Area of Science:

Quantum Chemistry
Condensed Matter Physics
Spectroscopy

Background:

Enantiomers possess non-superimposable mirror-image structures.
Spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is a relativistic effect influencing electronic properties.
Charge densities of enantiomers are spatially reflected, but occupied spinors may differ due to SOC.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the role of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in generating enantiospecific responses.
To establish a general mechanism for enantiospecific contributions in response tensors.
To link SOC-driven spinor phases to measurable tensor differences.

Main Methods:

Theoretical derivation of enantiospecific contributions from SOC-induced phases.
Relativistic plane wave density-functional calculations on chiral molecules.
Analysis of gauge-invariant response combinations and tensor properties.

Main Results:

SOC encodes intrinsic phase textures that lead to enantiospecific contributions in response tensors.
Isotropic pseudoscalar signatures arise from polar-axial couplings, while same-parity couplings remain mirror-even.
Analytical bounds were derived and validated, linking SOC phases and amplitude distortions to measurable tensor differences.

Conclusions:

SOC provides a general mechanism for enantiospecific responses in chiral materials.
Plane wave calculations effectively capture delocalized SOC phase textures.
Experiments can probe SOC-induced phases to yield enantiospecific responses in chiral samples.