Infrared and Raman Vibrational Optical Activity of Bio-Molecules

Abstract

Since the early 1970s, two forms of vibrational optical activity (VOA)¹ have been developed for stereochemical applications. They correspond to the two classic forms of vibrational spectroscopy, infrared absorption and Raman scattering. The first, vibrational circular dichroism, or VCD,^2–4 is the extension of electronic circular dichroism into the infrared region where fundamental vibrational transitions occur. The second, called Raman optical activity, or ROA,^5–7 is a new form of optical activity having no previous classical analog.