Cavity-enhanced fourier transform spectroscopy for chiral analysis
AssigneeUniversity of Virginia Patent Foundation
InventorBrooks Hart Pate
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A chiral molecule can be defined as a molecule that has a non-superimposable mirror image. These mirror images can be referred to as enantiomers. The enantiomers generally have the same set of bond lengths and bond angles in their three-dimensional geometry. Apparatus and techniques described herein can be used to perform analysis of chiral molecules using cavity-enhanced molecular rotational spectroscopy. A sample cell can define a resonant cavity, and a sample introduction port can provide pulse jet injection of an analyte molecule and a chiral tag to allow analysis of a complex comprising the analyte and chiral tag.
Claims27
A method, comprising:
- using a pulsed jet, injecting an analyte and a chiral tag into a sample cell comprising a resonant cavity;
- electrically exciting multiple modes of the resonant cavity;
- electrically obtaining a time-domain response from a sample comprising the analyte and the chiral tag, the response elicited by the electrically exciting the resonant cavity;
- and
- determining a frequency-domain representation of the time-domain response.
A method, comprising:
- electrically obtaining a first response elicited from a resonant cavity housing a first sample including an analyte and a racemic mixture comprising a chiral tag;
- and
- electrically obtaining a second response elicited from the resonant cavity housing a second sample including the analyte and a specified-enantiopurity form of the chiral tag;
- wherein the first and second responses are elicited by electrically exciting multiple modes of the resonant cavity, the modes corresponding to a range of molecular rotational resonances to be interrogated.
An apparatus, comprising:
- a sample cell including a resonant cavity;
- a source electrically coupled to the sample cell to electrically excite multiple modes of the resonant cavity;
- a receiver electrically coupled to the sample cell to obtain a response elicited from a sample within the sample cell, in response to excitation of the resonant cavity using the source, the receiver comprising an analog-to-digital converter to provide a digital representation of a time-domain response obtained from the sample cell;
- and
- an isolator to isolate the source from the sample cell at least when the receiver is receiving the response elicited from the sample;
- wherein the sample cell comprises at least two sample introduction ports, including at least one sample introduction port to receive an analyte and a chiral tag.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.