Study of ultrafast chiral dynamics of the Vitamin D precursor Ergosterol at European XFEL

Caterina Vozzi from the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Milano, Italy, is researching the steroid ergosterol (C28H44O) at the Small Quantum Systems (SQS) instrument of European XFEL. The molecule is a precursor of vitamin D. When exposed to UV light, it is rapidly converted into vitamin D2. Vozzi is interested in the question of how exactly this process takes place. To do this, she uses a method called time-resolved photoelectron circular dichroism. It uses different wavelengths of circularly polarised X-ray light from European XFEL.