Vibrational Circular Dichroism

Abstract A brief history of the development of the experimental and theoretical aspects of infrared and Raman vibrational optical activity (VOA) is provided as an introduction. The infrared form of VOA is known as vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) and the Raman form is known as vibrational Raman optical activity (ROA). VCD is defined as the difference in the absorbance of a chiral molecule for left versus right circularly polarized radiation during a vibrational transition. The principal areas of coverage of VCD include the theory of VCD and its relation to measured spectra, instrumentation used for the measurement of VCD including intensity standards and commercially available instruments, methods used for the ab initio calculation of VCD spectra, and advanced instrumental techniques. The principal applications of VCD include determination of absolute configuration, enantiomeric purity, and solution‐state conformational populations. A concluding section predicts substantial growth in the application of VCD as theoretical and instrumental methods improve in the future.