Hard X-ray helical dichroism of disordered molecular media
- Journal:
- Nature Photonics
- Published:
- DOI:
- 10.1038/s41566-022-01022-x
- Affiliations:
- 6
- Authors:
- 14
Research Highlight
Spiral X-rays distinguish between mirror-image molecules
© JGI/Tetra images/Getty Images
Helical X-rays can distinguish between mirror-image molecules with much greater sensitivity than conventional optical techniques.
Chiral molecules are mirror images of each other, much like left- and right-hand gloves. Despite having identical chemical formula, they can have very different effects on biological systems.
The ability to distinguish between the two different forms of chiral molecules is critical for drug development and other fields, but current techniques suffer from very weak signals, with light absorption differing by less than 0.1%.
Now, a team led by researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland has created helical X-ray light that produces signals that are several orders of magnitude stronger than conventional methods.
The researchers used a special X-ray lens known as a spiral zone plate to produce X-ray beams with spiral wavefronts.
References
- Nature Photonics 16, 570–574 (2022). doi: 10.1038/s41566-022-01022-x