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Cover Feature: Making Glycine Methyl Ester Chiral (Chem. Eur. J. 46/2018)
Author(s) -
Gerbig Dennis,
Desch Sarina,
Schreiner Peter R.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201803644
Subject(s) - glycine , chirality (physics) , circular dichroism , chemistry , molecule , vibrational circular dichroism , matrix (chemical analysis) , reactivity (psychology) , cover (algebra) , amino acid , circular polarization , stereochemistry , organic chemistry , chiral symmetry , physics , optics , chromatography , biochemistry , alternative medicine , pathology , quark , quantum mechanics , nambu–jona lasinio model , medicine , microstrip , engineering , mechanical engineering
Achiral amino acid glycine as its methyl ester inherits the chiral fingerprint of methyl lactate within the confines of a frozen matrix: Circularly polarized light of one sense is absorbed more strongly due to the vibrational optical activity of glycine induced by its methyl lactate partner. Comparable to ices on comets, cryogenic matrices of solidified gases allow investigations on the reactivity of small molecules by vibrational circular dichroism spectroscopy. The observed chirality transfer could prove to be a substantial factor for the creation of an initial chiral imbalance in racemates of extraterrestrial origin. More information can be found in the Communication by P. R. Schreiner et al. on page 11904.