A Tunable, Fullerene-Based Molecular Amplifier for Vibrational Circular Dichroism

Vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) studies are reported on a chiral compound in which a fullerene C₆₀ moiety is used as an electron acceptor and local VCD amplifier for an alanine-based peptide chain. Four redox states are investigated in this study, of which three are reduced species that possess low-lying electronic states as confirmed by UV/Vis spectroelectrochemistry. VCD measurements in combination with (TD)DFT calculations are used to investigate (i) how the low-lying electronic states of the reduced species modulate the amplification of VCD signals, (ii) how this amplification depends on the distance between oscillator and amplifier, and (iii) how the spatial extent of the amplifier influences amplification. These results pave the way for further development of tailored molecular VCD amplifiers.