Molecular and Supramolecular Chirality: R2PI spectroscopy as a tool for the gas-phase recognition of chiral systems of biological interest

In life sciences, diastereomeric chiral molecule/chiral receptor complexes are held together by a different combination of intermolecular forces and are therefore endowed with different stability and reactivity. Determination of these forces, which are normally affected in the condensed phase by solvent and supramolecular interactions, can be accomplished through the generation of diastereomeric complexes in the isolated state and their spectroscopic investigation. This review presents a detailed discussion of the mass resolved Resonant Two Photon Ionization (R2PI-TOF) technique in supersonic beams and introduces an overview of various other technologies currently available for the spectroscopic study of gas phase chiral molecules and supramolecular systems. It reports case studies primarily from our recent work using R2PI-TOF methodology for chiral recognition in clusters containing molecules of biological interest. The measurement of absorption spectra, ionization and fragmentation thresholds of diastereomeric clusters by this technique allow the determination of the nature of the intrinsic interactions, which control their formation and which affect their stability and reactivity.