Journal Article

PUBDB-2026-00713

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png Probing Instantaneous Single-Molecule Chirality in the Planar Ground State of Formic Acid

Tsitsonis, D.Extern* ; Kircher, M.Extern*XFEL.EU* ; Novikovskiy, N. M. ; Trinter, F.Extern*XFEL.EU* ; Williams, J.Extern* ; Fehre, K.Extern*XFEL.EU* ; Kaiser, L.Extern* ; Eckart, S.Extern*XFEL.EU* ; Kreuz, O. ; Senftleben, A.Extern* ; Demekhin, P. (Corresponding author)Extern* ; Berger, R. (Corresponding author) ; Jahnke, T. (Corresponding author)Extern*XFEL.EU*DESY* ; Schoeffler, M. (Corresponding author)Extern* ; Doerner, R. (Corresponding author)Extern*

2026
APS College Park, Md.

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Please use a persistent id in citations: doi:10.1103/bvqj-pm3n  doi:10.3204/PUBDB-2026-00713

Abstract: We experimentally demonstrate that individual molecules of formic acid are chiral even when they are in the vibronic ground state, which has a planar equilibrium structure. We ionize the C 1⁢𝑠 shell of the molecule and record the photoelectron in coincidence with positively charged fragments. This provides two consecutive measurements of the structure of one molecule, the first by photoelectron diffraction imaging and the second by Coulomb explosion imaging. We find that both measurements show the same handedness of the specific molecule. The phenomenon of being achiral on average but chiral at the level of individual molecules is general to prochiral molecules and is a consequence of the three-dimensional zero-point delocalization of the nuclei in the vibrational ground state.

Note: H-20010092

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Contributing Institute(s):

1. DOOR-User (DOOR ; HAS-User)

Research Program(s):

1. 6G3 - PETRA III (DESY) (POF4-6G3) (POF4-6G3)
2. DFG project G:(GEPRIS)328961117 - SFB 1319: Extremes Licht zur Analyse und Kontrolle molekularer Chiralität (ELCH) (328961117) (328961117)
3. DFG project G:(GEPRIS)509471550 - Dynamik photoionisations-induzierter Prozesse in laser-präparierten Molekülen in der Gasphase und der wässrigen Phase (509471550) (509471550)

Experiment(s):

1. PETRA Beamline P04 (PETRA III)

Appears in the scientific report 2026

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Database coverage:
; ; ; Clarivate Analytics Master Journal List ; Current Contents - Electronics and Telecommunications Collection ; Current Contents - Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences ; Ebsco Academic Search ; Essential Science Indicators ; IF >= 5 ; JCR ; Nationallizenz ; SCOAP3 sponsored Journal ; SCOPUS ; Science Citation Index Expanded ; Web of Science Core Collection

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