Enantiomer-specific analysis of multi-component mixtures by correlated electron imaging–ion mass spectrometry

Simultaneous, enantiomer-specific identification of chiral molecules in multi-component mixtures is extremely challenging. Many established techniques for single-component analysis fail to provide selectivity in multi-component mixtures and lack sensitivity for dilute samples. Here we show how enant...

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Veröffentlicht in:Nature communications 2015-06, Vol.6 (1), p.7511-7511, Article 7511
Hauptverfasser: Fanood, Mohammad M Rafiee, Ram, N. Bhargava, Lehmann, C. Stefan, Powis, Ivan, Janssen, Maurice H. M.
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Simultaneous, enantiomer-specific identification of chiral molecules in multi-component mixtures is extremely challenging. Many established techniques for single-component analysis fail to provide selectivity in multi-component mixtures and lack sensitivity for dilute samples. Here we show how enantiomers may be differentiated by mass-selected photoelectron circular dichroism using an electron–ion coincidence imaging spectrometer. As proof of concept, vapours containing ∼1% of two chiral monoterpene molecules, limonene and camphor, are irradiated by a circularly polarized femtosecond laser, resulting in multiphoton near-threshold ionization with little molecular fragmentation. Large chiral asymmetries (2–4%) are observed in the mass-tagged photoelectron angular distributions. These asymmetries switch sign according to the handedness ( R - or S -) of the enantiomer in the mixture and scale with enantiomeric excess of a component. The results demonstrate that mass spectrometric identification of mixtures of chiral molecules and quantitative determination of enantiomeric excess can be achieved in a table-top instrument. Detecting enantiomers in dilute mixtures of volatile organic compounds is a challenge. Here, the authors demonstrate a method to identify enantiomers and enantiomeric excess in a multi-component mixture containing two chiral species using laser mass spectrometry and photoelectron circular dichroism.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/ncomms8511