We have selected and spatially separated the two conformers of 3-aminophenol (C6H7NO) present in a molecular beam. Analogous to the separation of ions based on their mass-to-charge ratios in a quadrupole mass filter, the neutral conformers are separated based on their different mass-to-dipole-moment ratios in an ac electric quadrupole selector. For a given ac frequency, the individual conformers experience different focusing forces, resulting in different transmissions through the selector. These experiments demonstrate that conformer-selected samples of large molecules can be prepared, offering new possibilities for the study of gas-phase biomolecules.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0802.2795,
title = {A selector for structural isomers of neutral molecules},
author = {Frank Filsinger and Undine Erlekam and Gert von Helden and Jochen Küpper and Gerard Meijer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0802.2795},
year = {2008}
}