Progress Toward the First Observation of Parity Violation in Chiral Molecules by High-Resolution Laser Spectroscopy

Parity violation (PV) effects in chiral molecules have so far never been experimentally observed. To take up this challenge, a consortium of physicists, chemists, theoreticians, and spectroscopists has been established and aims at measuring PV energy differences between two enantiomers by using high-resolution laser spectroscopy. In this article, we present our common strategy to reach this goal, the progress accomplished in the diverse areas, and point out directions for future PV observations. The work of Andre Collet on bromochlorofluoromethane (1) enantiomers, their synthesis, and their chiral recognition by cryptophanes made feasible the first generation of experiments presented in this article. Chirality 22:870-884, 2010. (C) 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.