ABSTRACT
Vibrational optical activity (VOA) is a relatively new area of molecular spec troscopy (1-7). Discovered experimentally approximately 25 years ago (8-11), VOA consists of an infrared form, called vibrational circular dichroism (VCD), and a Raman form, called Raman optical activity (ROA). In both areas, one measures the differential response of a chiral molecule to left versus right circu larly polarized radiation that induces a vibrational transition in the molecule. Over the past quarter century, VOA has evolved in sophistication, both experimentally and theoretically, so that today this spectroscopic technique is making unique contributions to our understanding of the structure and dynamics of chiral mole cules.
