Chiral Circular Dichroism Spectrum

Chirality is one of the fundamental physicochemical properties in nature. The phenomenon of chirality symmetry in the research field of physical chemistry usually indicates an important symmetrical characteristic, mirror symmetry. If an object cannot completely coincide with its mirror image, it is said that this object has chirality, also known as chirality. We call these molecules that are not consistent with their mirror images as chiral molecules.

 

Studies have shown that chiral molecules are inseparable from organic synthesis, drug development, research on natural compounds, and even aspects related to the origin of life. In fact, as the basic "parts" that constitute life bodies - amino acids and nucleotides are molecules with a single chirality. Proteins and DNA are composed of numerous amino acids and nucleotides, respectively. Therefore, proteins and DNA are chiral. This creates a special chiral environment in the body, which gives the body a precise ability to recognize the chirality of drugs. Only when the chirality matches can the drug exert its efficacy. If it does not match, it cannot produce the expected efficacy and may even cause harm. Therefore, studying the chirality of compounds is very important and necessary.

 

An important means of studying chiral molecules is Circular Dichroism (CD). Due to their asymmetric spatial configuration, chiral molecules have different absorption capabilities for left and right circular polarized light during the absorption of light. This absorption difference leads to different intensities of left and right circular polarized light in the transmitted light, thereby producing a circular dichroism phenomenon. The circular dichroism spectrum is a characteristic spectrum of chiral molecules drawn with the wavelength as the horizontal coordinate and the measured value of the difference in absorption of left and right circular polarized light (such as ellipticity or molar ellipticity) as the vertical coordinate. By measuring and analyzing this difference, important information about the electronic structure and molecular conformation inside chiral molecules can be obtained.

 

At present, circular dichroism spectroscopy is widely used in multiple fields such as chemistry, biology, and physics. In the field of chemistry, circular dichroism spectroscopy is used to study the electronic structure, chemical bonding state, and molecular conformation of chiral molecules. In the field of biology, circular dichroism spectroscopy is used to study the chiral structure and function of biological macromolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids. In addition, circular dichroism spectroscopy also plays an important role in drug development and material science. MtoZ Biolabs has established a circular dichroism analysis platform based on the Jasco circular dichroism spectrometer. Combined with the CDNN software, it can quickly and accurately analyze the secondary and higher structure information of chiral molecules such as proteins/peptides. We look forward to your consultation.