The photochemical ring-opening of 1,3-cyclohexadiene imaged by ultrafast electron diffraction

Abstract

The photochemical electrocyclic ring-opening of 1,3-cyclohexadiene is a textbook organic chemistry reaction. Now, using ultrafast electron diffraction its reaction pathway has been resolved on the level of atomic distances and on its natural femtosecond timescale. Furthermore, coherent isomerization dynamics of the photoproduct 1,3,5-hexatriene were observed.

Thomas Wolf

Staff Scientist

My research is focused on discovering structure-function relationships in ultrafast photochemistry to better understand and eventually control this type of reactions.