Direct Determination of Absolute Molecular Stereochemistry in Gas Phase by Coulomb Explosion Imaging

Abstract

Absolute Images: Molecules are held together by a balance of charge between negative electrons and positive nuclei. When multiple electrons are expelled by laser irradiation, the remaining, mutually repulsive nuclei fly apart in a Coulomb explosion. Instead of traditional x-ray diffraction methods that require crystalline samples, Pitzer et al. (p. 1096 ) show that by tracking the fragment trajectories from laser-induced Coulomb explosions of relatively simple gas phase molecules, they can determine the absolute stereochemical configuration of enantiomers (mirror-image isomers).