Inducing transient enantiomeric excess in a molecular quantum racemic mixture with microwave fields

Wenhao Sun, Denis S. Tikhonov, Himanshi Singh, Amanda L. Steber, Cristóbal Pérez and Melanie Schnell ()
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Wenhao Sun: Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY
Denis S. Tikhonov: Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY
Himanshi Singh: Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY
Amanda L. Steber: Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY
Cristóbal Pérez: Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY
Melanie Schnell: Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Chiral molecules with low enantiomer interconversion barriers racemize even at cryogenic temperatures due to quantum tunneling, forming a racemic mixture that is impossible to separate using conventional chemical methods. Here we both experimentally and theoretically demonstrate a method to create and probe a state-specific enantiomeric enrichment for such molecular systems. The coherent, non-linear, and resonant approach is based on a microwave six-wave mixing scheme and consists of five phase-controlled microwave pulses. The first three pulses induce a chiral wavepacket in a chosen rotational state, while the consecutive two pulses induce a polarization for a particular rotational transition (listen transition) with a magnitude proportional to the enantiomeric excess created. The experiments are performed with the transiently chiral molecule benzyl alcohol, where a chiral molecular response was successfully obtained. This signal demonstrates that enantiomeric excess can be induced in a quantum racemic mixture of a transiently chiral molecule using the developed microwave six-wave mixing scheme, which is an important step towards controlling non-rigid chiral molecular systems.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36653-3

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