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Chiral Recognition with High-Energy Photo- and Compton Electrons: A Theoretical Showcase Study of Methyloxirane and Trifluoromethyloxirane Molecules

Daniel M. Haubenreißer1, Nikolay M. Novikovskiy1, Max Kircher2, Markus S. Schöffler2, Reinhard Dörner2, Till Jahnke3,4, and Philipp V. Demekhin1,*

  • *Contact author: demekhin@physik.uni-kassel.de
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 213203 – Published 20 November, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/4fnf-wkfd

Abstract

We report a comparative theoretical study of molecular-frame angular emission distributions of high-energy electrons released from the O  1s inner shell of methyloxirane and trifluoromethyloxirane molecules via photoionization and, alternatively, ionization by a Compton scattering of high-energy photons. We demonstrate that the high-energy photo- and Compton electrons can be employed to determine the absolute configuration of these chiral molecules via diffraction imaging. This is particularly important in cases where the single-molecule handedness cannot be recognized from ionic fragmentation patterns. Thereby, we establish high-energy photoionization and ionization by Compton scattering as additional complementary tools for chiral recognition in the gas phase.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 213203– Published 20 November, 2025
  • Received 9 July 2025
  • Revised 20 September 2025
  • Accepted 3 November 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

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