2

Imaging valence electron rearrangement in a chemical reaction using hard X-ray scattering

The work details the observation of valence electron rearrangement signatures in photoexcited ammonia using ultrafast hard X-ray scattering. The researchers used 9.8 keV time-resolved X-ray scattering (TRXS) on gas-phase deuterated ammonia after …

Capturing Ring Opening in Photoexcited Enolic Acetylacetone upon Hydrogen Bond Dissociation by Ultrafast Electron Diffraction

The study focuses on the structural transformations of acetylacetone (AcAc) after being excited by a laser. In the gas phase, this molecule exists in a stable, ring-like enolic form due to a strong internal hydrogen bond. Using ultrafast electron …

Real-space observation of the dissociation of a transition metal complex and its concurrent energy redistribution

The study focuses on the photodissociation dynamics of transition metal carbonyls, specifically iron pentacarbonyl (Fe(CO)₅), which is crucial for understanding active catalytic intermediates. Using ultrafast X-ray scattering, the researchers were …

Direct Observation of the ππ* to nπ* Transition in 2-Thiouracil via Time-Resolved NEXAFS Spectroscopy

The study investigates the ultrafast dynamics of 2-thiouracil using time-resolved Near Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. The researchers successfully identified absorption features corresponding to the S2 (ππ*) and S1 (nπ*) …

Ultrafast Events in Electrocyclic Ring-Opening Reactions

The review discusses recent advancements in understanding electrocyclic reactions, moving beyond the traditional Woodward-Hoffmann rules by integrating time-resolved experiments with nonadiabatic quantum molecular dynamics simulations. The authors …

Probing Electronic Coherence between Core-Level Vacancies at Different Atomic Sites

We report the observation of electronic coherence between core-level vacancies created at different atomic sites in a molecule. This coherence, which is a fundamental aspect of quantum mechanics, can be probed by measuring the interference of the …

Imaging the Photochemistry of Cyclobutanone using Ultrafast Electron Diffraction Experimental Results

The study investigates the ultrafast structural dynamics of cyclobutanone after photoexcitation at a wavelength of 200 nm, utilizing gas-phase megaelectronvolt ultrafast electron diffraction. This research complements simulation studies on the same …

Photoinduced hydrogen dissociation in thymine predicted by coupled cluster theory

The fate of thymine upon excitation by ultraviolet radiation has been the subject of intense debate. Today, it is widely believed that its ultrafast excited state gas phase decay stems from a radiationless transition from the bright ππ* state to a …

UV-Induced Reaction Pathways in Bromoform Probed with Ultrafast Electron Diffraction

For many chemical reactions, it remains notoriously difficult to predict and experimentally determine the rates and branching ratios between different reaction channels. This is particularly the case for reactions involving short-lived intermediates, …

Tracking dissociation pathways of nitrobenzene via mega-electron-volt ultrafast electron diffraction

As the simplest nitroaromatic compound, nitrobenzene is an interesting model system to explore the rich photochemistry of nitroaromatic compounds. Previous investigations of nitrobenzene's photochemical dynamics have probed structural and electronic …