Magnetoelectric interferences of the dipolar interactions in chiral molecules

Abstract

If a chiral molecule has a permanent electric dipole moment μe and a system of three nuclear spins coupled by dipole interactions, a suitable combination of external electric E and magnetic B fields can induce a chirality-sensitive magnetic resonance signal. The phase of this signal directly reveals the molecule’s absolute configuration, eliminating the need for additional molecular properties calculation. Strongly coupled spin systems, such as the nearly equivalent protons of the 13CH2 methylene group, are particularly favorable for experimental detection. In fields with magnitudes of E = 10 kV/cm and B = 10 T, the estimated chirality-sensitive signal is about 10−4 of standard magnetic resonance signals.