Recent experimental and theoretical developments towards the observation of parity violation (PV) effects in molecules by spectroscopy

Parity violation (PV) at the molecular level is known to be responsible for a tiny energy difference between the two enantiomers of a chiral molecule. This parity violation energy difference (PVED) has not yet been detected by experiment. In the last few years, the search for PV effects in molecules has made important steps ahead for several reasons. On one hand, very accurate infra-red spectroscopy measurements were performed by metrologists on bromochlorofluoromethane (CHFClBr) with a 10 Hz accuracy, which so far is the most precise. On the other hand, relativistic calculations were used for the evaluation of DeltaE(PV) allowing for a screening of favorable molecules for future measurements. The synthesis of such chiral molecules with high parity violation effects is currently being investigated. In memory of Professor Jean-Bernard Robert.

Quantum mechanical considerations on the algebraic structure of central molecular chirality

The chiral algebra of tetrahedral molecules, derived from Fischer's projections, is discussed in the framework of quantum mechanics. A "quantum chiral algebra" is obtained whose operators, acting as rotations or inversions, commute with the Hamiltonian of the system. It is shown that energy and chirality eigenstates are strictly related through the Heisenberg relations, while chirality operators "conserve" parity eigenstates.

Optical Switching in Chiropticenes

Chiropticenes are a novel class of predesigned chiral molecular switches that are triggered and controlled by a combination of both light and electric field. Chiropticenes contain an optically active (chiral) center and, as a consequence, provide two accessible equal energy bistable states resembling the molecular elements of binary logic. Structural engineering of the basic switch design is investigated to modulate the thermal and optical switching behavior of the resulting compounds. A simple screening methodology is presented to detect switching behavior in the solid state employing standard NMR and FT-IR spectroscopy. Validation of this method is demonstrated by the switching properties of newly synthesized anthraquinone dye based Chiropticenes. Functioning as a chiroptical dipole switch, Chiropticenes promise broad applications in emerging optoelectronic and molecular electronic technologies.

How important is parity violation for molecular and biomolecular chirality?

Parity violation leads to energy differences delta(pv)H(o)(0)=N(A)delta(pv)E of enantiomers in the femtojoule to picojoule per mole range. Recently introduced methods of electroweak quantum chemistry predict such energy differences to be one to two orders of magnitude larger than previously accepted-but still very small. How can such small energies be measured and what are the consequences for our understanding of molecular chirality, biomolecular homochirality, and perhaps fundamental physics? The review gives some tentative answers to these questions. We discuss the current status of theory and some of the current experimental approaches.

Chirality of living systems: a helping hand from crystals and oligopeptides

Left-right asymmetry is ubiquitous in nature. Recent studies reveal changes in the energy and growth rate of crystal surfaces to which D or L amino acids bind, with the binding itself being dictated by stereochemical matching. Likewise, oligomerization of amino acids appears to be a chiroselective process that enables the propagation of sequences with defined handedness.[[For a definition of chiroselective self-assembly, see: M. Bolli, R. Micura, A. Eschenmoser, Chem. Biol. 1997, 4, 309-320.]] These results, along with related findings on symmetry breaking and further amplification of asymmetry at a supramolecular level, constitute new insights into the origin of homochirality in living species.

Molecular chirality and the fundamental symmetries of physics: influence of parity violation on rovibrational frequencies and thermodynamic properties

We introduce the topic of fundamental symmetries of physics in relation to molecular chirality by a brief review of the development and current status of the theory of parity violation in chiral molecules. We then discuss in some detail CHBrClF (bromochlorofluoromethane) as a test case, to which the work of André Collet has contributed importantly. For this molecule and its isotopomers, we report here the first detailed theoretical calculations of the influence of parity violation on statistical thermodynamic properties. High-quality ab initio calculations (RPA, random phase approximation, and CASSCF, complete-active-space self-consistent-field) were performed to determine the small energy difference between R- and S-enantiomers of H and D isotopomers of bromochlorofluoromethane (CHBrClF, CDBrClF), and fluorooxirane ((1)H(3)C(2)OF) introduced by the parity-violating weak interaction. Together with vibrational and rotational frequency shifts caused by parity violation, these were used to determine the statistical thermodynamic quantities from the corresponding partition functions within the separable harmonic and in part also anharmonic adiabatic approximation. Temperature-dependent equilibrium constants for the stereomutation were calculated and are discussed in relation to biochemical homochirality.

Influence of parity violating weak nuclear potentials on vibrational and rotational frequencies in chiral molecules

We study the effect of parity violation on the vibrational and rotational frequencies of CHBrClF. We report the parity violating potentials as a function of reduced normal coordinates for all nine internal vibrational modes omega(1) to omega(9), using our new, accurate multiconfigurational-linear response (RPA and complete-active-space self-consistent field) approach. All modes omega(i) show a strongly mode dependent relative shift Delta(pv)omega(i)/omega(i) (between 0.08x10(-16) and 13.3x10(-16), much smaller than all previous experimental tests could detect, including the most recent ones). The results are discussed in relation to other tests of parity violation.

Theoretical analysis of parity-violating energy differences between the enantiomers of chiral molecules

Fully relativistic four-component electronic structure ab initio calculations including neutral current corrections are reported for a number of small chiral molecules that are of interest in the experimental search for differences in the vibrational spectra of the two enantiomers of handed molecules. The largest vibrational energy differences, of the order 0.2 Hz, are found in chiral methane derivatives which include an iodine substituent. The vibrational energy differences in CHBrClF are 7 and 2 mHz for the carbon-chlorine and carbon-fluorine stretching modes, respectively, which are 3 to 4 orders of magnitude smaller than the precision reported in recent experiments.

Parity violation and the evolution of biomolecular homochirality

Parity violation at the level of terrestrial biopolymers, as seen in proteins, DNAs, and RNAs, and parity violation at the level of nuclear processes, as evident in longitudinally polarized beta-particles and parity-violating energy differences (PVEDs), are discussed and their fundamental importances are emphasized. Attempts to find a causal connection between the unique homochirality of biopolymers and parity violation at the nuclear level, and speculations that the former is a consequence of the latter, are reviewed. Consideration of all lines of evidence leads to the conclusion that there is no substantiation for such a causal connection, and that the two levels of parity violation are entirely independent of each other.

Coherently controlled asymmetric synthesis with achiral light

A laser-based method of increasing the enantiomeric excess of a chiral enantiomer in a racemic mixture is described. Neither the initial reagents nor the incident light need be chiral. Both formal and computational results show that enhancement of the enantiomer of choice, controlled by laser parameters, can be extensive.

Energetic stabilization of d-camphor via weak neutral currents

It is shown via a series of numerical tests on the camphor molecule, C10H16O, that the naturally occurring d-enantiomer is energetically stabilized with respect to its mirror image by electroweak force. The calculated energy difference between enantiomers, about 1.5 x 10(-19) hartree, is roughly eight orders of magnitude smaller than the upper bound suggested by available spectroscopic investigations on the frequency of a spectroscopic transition. However, such a difference is about ten times larger than previous estimates of parity-violating energy contributions reported in the literature for other chiral molecules, which makes the idea of electroweak stabilization of one enantiomer more reliable than expected before.