The circular dichroism (CD) in ion yield for different excitation/ionisation schemes for R-(+)-3-methylcyclopentanone was measured with circular dichroism laser mass spectrometry (CD-LAMS). We discovered a cumulative CD effect of successive electronic transitions, resulting in an enhancement of the CD in ion yield. Two photon excitation of the n-pi*-transition compared with the one photon process showed a vanishing CD effect. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.