Recent advances in studies on the magneto-chiral dichroism of organic compounds

Magneto-chiral dichroism (MChD) is an interesting phenomenon in which the absorbance of a chiral molecule depends on the direction of the magnetic field. As the MChD of two enantiomers is opposite in nature, MChD has received considerable attention for the development of magneto-optical devices and new asymmetric synthetic methods, as well as being an explanation for the origin of the homochirality of life. In this perspective, the theoretical background behind MChD is introduced, and then, the first examples of metal complexes and aromatic π-conjugated systems are discussed. Furthermore, the electronic properties of aromatic π-conjugated systems, such as orbital angular momentum and exciton chirality, are theoretically explained, and the possibility of MChD-based photoresolutions is described.