Determination of the absolute chirality of tellurium using resonant diffraction with circularly polarized x-rays

J Phys Condens Matter. 2010 Mar 31;22(12):122201. doi: 10.1088/0953-8984/22/12/122201. Epub 2010 Mar 8.

Abstract

Many proteins, sugars and pharmaceuticals crystallize into two forms that are mirror images of each other (enantiomers) like our right and left hands. Tellurium is one enantiomer having a space group pair, P3(1)21 (right-handed screw) and P3(2)21 (left-handed screw). X-ray diffraction with dispersion correction terms has been playing an important role in determining the handedness of enantiomers for a long time. However, this approach is not applicable for an elemental crystal such as tellurium or selenium. We have demonstrated that positive and negative circularly polarized x-rays at the resonant energy of tellurium can be used to absolutely distinguish right from left tellurium. This method is applicable to chiral motifs that occur in biomolecules, liquid crystals, ferroelectrics and antiferroelectrics, multiferroics, etc.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biophysics / methods*
  • Electronics
  • Models, Statistical
  • Photoelectron Spectroscopy
  • Physics / methods
  • Stereoisomerism
  • Tellurium / chemistry*
  • X-Ray Diffraction
  • X-Rays

Substances

  • Tellurium