New microscope makes tracking chiral molecules in live cells possible
The instrument uses circularly polarised light to tell left- and right-handed species apart and monitor them in space and time
A new type of light microscope has been built that can identify and monitor luminescent chiral molecules in living cells. The researchers say that their circularly polarised luminescence laser scanning confocal microscope can be used to study interactions between cells, organelles and drugs, opening new possibilities in chemistry and biomedicine.1
‘We’ve created the world’s first confocal microscope that harnesses circularly polarised light (CPL) to differentiate left- and right-handed molecules,’ explains Robert Pal from Durham University in the UK. The new device takes advantage of the fact that luminescent chiral molecules encode optical fingerprints within the emitted light, providing information about their environment, conformation and binding state.