Photoelectron circular dichroism and spectroscopy of trifluoromethyl- and methyl-oxirane: a comparative study

Abstract

Photoelectron circular dichroism (PECD), a forward–backward asymmetry along the light propagation direction observed in the angular distribution of photoelectrons formed in the ionization of a chiral gas phase target with circularly polarized light, is becoming an established technique for chiral differentiation. In this work some of the fundamental and analytical properties of PECD are confirmed and explored further through a comparative study of the valence shell photoionization of enantiomerically pure trifluoromethyl-oxirane and methyl-oxirane, namely the sensitivity of PECD to the initial orbital and to chemical substitution. The recorded PECD experimental data and corresponding continuum multiple scattering calculations for the outermost orbitals obtained at various photon energies reveal the dramatic effect of substituting the CF₃ and CH₃ groups attached at the asymmetric chiral center. The previously unknown trifluoromethyl-oxirane ion spectroscopy and the fragmentation pattern measured by threshold electron/ion coincidence techniques over the first four eVs above the ionization threshold are also presented in this work and assigned through the use of ab initio calculations. The state-selected photochemistry and threshold electron spectroscopy of methyl-oxirane have additionally been recorded to complement previous spectroscopic studies.