During the years surrounding the new millennium, the field of vibrational optical activity (VOA), comprised principally of vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) and vibrational Raman optical activity (ROA), underwent a transition from a specialized area of research that had been practiced by a handful of pioneers into an important newfield of spectroscopy practiced by an increasing number of scientists worldwide. This transition was made possible by the development of commercial instrumentation and software for the routine measurement and quantum chemical calculation ofVOA. This development in turn was fueled by the growing focus among chemists for controlling and characterizing molecular chirality in synthesis, dynamics, analysis, and natural product isolation
