Microwave spectroscopy as a probe of chiral molecular structure: recent advances and future challenges

by Sérgio Domingos (CFisUC)

Wednesday 11 May 2022, 14:00 → 15:00 Portugal

Sala de Conferências (Departamento de Física FCTUC)

Since the dawn of the chirped-pulse era, broadband microwave spectroscopy has become a foundation for new methods to explore beyond conventional spectroscopy and attain next level tracing and even acquire control over molecular properties. The improved sensitivity of the technique has unlocked studies of increasingly more complex molecular species, including molecular motors, and large molecular complexes. With the intrinsically narrow line widths of rotational transitions, microwave spectra are molecular fingerprints that grant unambiguous assignment of exact three-dimensional structures, and even allow identification and quantification of enantiomers using recently developed strategies. In this scope, methods for sensing and quantification of chiral samples in the gas phase were developed, challenging the precision and accuracy of other established analytical standards.
Based on recent results and ongoing investigations, we will discuss these methods and their applications in molecular physics and analytical sciences.