Stage de niveau M1, M2 dans l’équipe SYSIPHE
Chirality is an important characteristic of life. Chiral drugs for instance often have enantioselective therapeutic activity. Moreover, their conformation must be flexible enough to optimize the interaction with the target. Chiroptical spectroscopy, that is spectroscopy resting on circularly polarized light (CPL), can be used to distinguish between two enantiomers of a chiral molecule. For example, Photoelectron Circular Dichroism (PECD) is observed as a forward / backward asymmetry in the angular distribution of the electrons resulting from photoionization of a chiral species with (CPL), in the gas phase. The PECD scheme that we have recently developed at ISMO is able to address simultaneously molecular chirality and flexibility by measuring conformer-selective PECD.[1] The set-up will be applied to flexible biomolecules such as amino acids or molecules used in chiral stationary phase chromatography, e.g. binaphthol. The recruited student will work with nanosecond lasers, supersonic expansions, imaging camera… The project involves collaboration with the SOLEIL synchrotron (DESIRS beamline), and may include some quantum chemistry calculations for the interpretation of the spectra.
[1] Rouquet, E.; Dupont, J.; Lepere, V.; Garcia, G. A.; Nahon, L.; Zehnacker, A. Conformer-Selective Photoelectron Circular Dichroism. Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) 2024, e202401423-e202401423.
PhD application opportunity: Scholarship of the Doctoral School (Competition)
Location: Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d’Orsay (ISMO), Bât. 520, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay
Contact: LEPERE Valéria & ZEHNACKER-RENTIEN Anne