Conformer-selection by matter-wave interference

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel method using matter-wave interference at ultraviolet optical gratings to achieve near-perfect conformer separation of complex molecules, enabling highly pure, ground-state molecular beams for structure-sensitive studies.

Contribution

It introduces a matter-wave interference technique for conformer selection that is independent of molecular dipole moments and spins, applicable to complex hydrocarbons and biomolecules.

Findings

Conformer purity can reach nearly 100%.

All molecules remain in their electronic ground state.

Technique is applicable to biomolecules like neurotransmitters.

Abstract

We establish that matter-wave interference at near-resonant ultraviolet optical gratings can be used to spatially separate individual conformers of complex molecules. Our calculations show that the conformational purity of the prepared beam can be close to 100% and that all molecules remain in their electronic ground state. The proposed technique is independent of the dipole moment and the spin of the molecule and thus paves the way for structure-sensitive experiments with hydrocarbons and biomolecules, such as neurotransmitters and hormones, which evaded conformer-pure isolation so far