  Circular dichroism (CD) spectra of chiral bare and thiol-passivated gold
nanoclusters have been calculated within the dipole approximation. The
calculated CD spectra show features that allow us to distinguish between
clusters with different indexes of chirality. The main factor responsible of
the differences in the CD lineshapes is the distribution of interatomic
distances that characterize the chiral cluster geometry. These results provide
theoretical support for the quantification of chirality and its measurement,
using the CD lineshapes of chiral metal nanoclusters.
