title: Prospects for circular dichroism detection of nonracemic extraterrestrial organic molecules.
abstract: The use of circular dichroism is examined as a probe for the detection of nonracemic analytes on spacecraft explorations such as a planned mission to Titan. Advances in both instrument design and chemistry will be required to make such a method practicable. The focus of this paper is on chemical agents able to amplify the circular dichroism signal, which would simplify instrument problems and increase sensitivity. A classic phenomenon known as the Pfeiffer effect provides a conceptual strategy to achieve the necessary aims for chirality detection. Recent examples of Pfeiffer-related phenomena are discussed.
authors.affiliation: New York University, NY 10003, USA. james.canary@nyu.edu
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Canary
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D002942:Circular Dichroism; D003300:Copper / Q000737:chemistry; D005118:Extraterrestrial Environment
chemical_list: D003300:Copper