Molecular Light Scattering And Optical Activity

Ranging from the physics of elementary particles to the structure of viruses, the subject matter of the book reflects the importance of optical activity and chirality in much of modern science and will be of interest to a wide range of physical and life scientists.

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The development of the laser and the subsequent expansion of research in the field of molecular scattering of light tend to ob scure the vast literature that accumulated on this subject during th'e last fifty years. The appearance of the Russian edition of Dr. Fabelinskii's book, just as this laser-induced explosion in light-scattering research took place, served to put the earlier work in its proper perspective. However, the book lacked any appreci able coverage of the laser work. Fortunately, Dr. Fabelinskii has taken advantage of the time between the appearance of the Russian text and its translation into English to expand greatly the sections devoted to areas in which laser research has made such interesting and vital additions, At the same time, revisions and insertions have been made throughout the text, so that the English translation is virtually a second edition of this useful work. The translator wishes to express his thanks here to Dr. Fa belinskii for making the revisions, corrections, and additions availahle for the English language work. He is also grateful to his graduate student, Mark B. Moffett, who prepared the index and who, during the course of its preparation, made a large number of crit ical comments and corrections that have enhanced the quality of the final product.

For Louis Pasteur, the two distinctive properties of dissymmetric systems, optical activity and chiral discrimination, provided prime evidence for a Divine origin to the universe. Handedness appeared to be built into the macrocosm of the galaxies, each with a non-superposable mirror image by virtue of its rotation, as well as the microcosm of each molecule of most natural products. The best that the chemist in the laboratory could accomplish appeared to be the synthesis of the detordu internally-compensated meso-form and, as Pasteur ultimately came to admit, the externally-compensated racemic form. In the latter case the chemist generated not merely one but two chiral structures, although parity, and secondary symmetry generally, seemed to be conserved in the enantiomer antipode pair. The cosmic element in the Pasteur tradition received an augmentation in secular form from demonstrations of the non conservation of parity in the weak interactions, and from the discovery of net circularity in the extra-terrestrial photons, such as those from the less-distant planets, particularly the photons from the Jupiter red-spot. The development of the photoacoustic circular analysers a decade ago was received in fact with as much enthusiasm by the astronomers as by the chemists. It would be just to add, however, that the majority of these circular analysers are now to be found, not in the observatories, but in the physical and chemistry laboratories devoted to the molecular aspects of the Pasteur tradition.

This unique book stands as the only comprehensive introduction to vibrational optical activity (VOA) and is the first single book that serves as a complete reference for this relatively new, but increasingly important area of molecular spectroscopy. Key features: A single-source reference on this topic that introduces, describes the background and foundation of this area of spectroscopy. Serves as a guide on how to use it to carry out applications with relevant problem solving. Depth and breadth of the subject is presented in a logical, complete and progressive fashion. Although intended as an introductory text, this book provides in depth coverage of this topic relevant to both students and professionals by taking the reader from basic theory through to practical and instrumental approaches.