  Originating from the weak interaction, parity violation in chiral molecules
has been considered as a possible origin of the biohomochirality. It was
predicted in 1974 but has never been observed so far. Parity violation should
lead to a very tiny frequency difference in the rovibrational spectra of the
enantiomers of a chiral molecule. We have proposed to observe this predicted
frequency difference using the two photon Ramsey fringes technique on a
supersonic beam. Promising candidates for this experiment are chiral oxorhenium
complexes, which present a large effect, can be synthesized in large quantity
and enantiopure form, and can be seeded in a molecular beam. As a first step
towards our objective, a detailed spectroscopic study of methyltrioxorhenium
(MTO) has been undertaken. It is an ideal test molecule as the achiral parent
molecule of chiral candidates for the parity violation experiment. For the
187Re MTO isotopologue, a combined analysis of Fourier transform microwave and
infrared spectra as well as ultra-high resolution CO2 laser absorption spectra
enabled the assignment of 28 rotational lines and 71 rovibrational lines, some
of them with a resolved hyperfine structure. A set of spectroscopic parameters
in the ground and first excited state, including hyperfine structure constants,
was obtained for the antisymmetric Re=O stretching mode of this molecule. This
result validates the experimental approach to be followed once a chiral
derivative of MTO will be synthesized, and shows the benefit of the combination
of several spectroscopic techniques in different spectral regions, with
different set-ups and resolutions. First high resolution spectra of jet-cooled
MTO, obtained on the set-up being developed for the observation of molecular
parity violation, are shown, which constitutes a major step towards the
targeted objective.
