Renaissance in chiroptical spectroscopic methods for molecular structure determination.

Two of the chiroptical spectroscopic methods, namely optical rotatory dispersion (ORD) and electronic circular dichroism (ECD), have been around for several decades. But their use in determining the absolute configuration and predominant conformation is gaining renewed interest with the availability of quantum mechanical methods for predicting ORD and ECD. Two other methods, namely vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) and vibrational Raman optical activity (VROA), are relatively new and offer convenient approaches for deducing the structural information in chiral molecules. With the availability of quantum mechanical programs for predicting VCD and VROA, these methods have attracted numerous new researchers to this area. This review summarizes the latest developments in these four areas and provides examples where more than one method has been used to confirm the information obtained from individual methods. (c) 2007 The Japan Chemical Journal Forum and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.