Abstract
In this article we introduce Raman optical activity (ROA) and summarize its development over past 40 years and future prospects. ROA measures vibrational optical activity by means of a small difference in the intensity of Raman scattering from chiral molecules in right- and left circularly polarized incident light or, equivalently, a small circularly polarized component in the scattered light.
Thanks to new developments in instrumentation, ROA may be applied to a wide range of chiral molecular species. Application of ab initio methods to the analysis of experimental ROA spectra holds great promise for the determination of the three-dimensional structure and conformational distribution in unprecedented detail.
Determination of absolute configuration of small and medium sized molecules in solution highlights the power of ROA. The many structure-sensitive bands in the ROA spectra of aqueous solutions of biomolecules provide detailed structural information.