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Mapping the emergence of molecular vibrations mediating bond formation

Jonghyun Kim, Shunsuke Nozawa, Hanui Kim, Eun Hyuk Choi, Tokushi Sato, Tae Wu Kim, Kyung Hwan Kim, Hosung Ki, Jungmin Kim, Minseo Choi, Yunbeom Lee, Jun Heo (+24 others)
2020 Nature / Physical science 582(7813)  

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Fundamental studies of chemical reactions often consider the molecular dynamics along a reaction coordinate using a calculated or suggested potential energy surface1,2,3,4,5. But fully mapping such dynamics experimentally, by following all nuclear motions in a time-resolved manner—that is, the motions of wavepackets—is challenging and has not yet been realized even for the simple stereotypical bimolecular reaction6,7,8: A–B + C → A + B–C. Here we track the trajectories of these vibrational
more » ... ackets during photoinduced bond formation of the gold trimer complex [Au(CN)2−]3 in an aqueous monomer solution, using femtosecond X-ray liquidography9,10,11,12 with X-ray free-electron lasers13,14. In the complex, which forms when three monomers A, B and C cluster together through non-covalent interactions15,16, the distance between A and B is shorter than that between B and C. Tracking the wavepacket in three-dimensional nuclear coordinates reveals that within the first 60 femtoseconds after photoexcitation, a covalent bond forms between A and B to give A–B + C. The second covalent bond, between B and C, subsequently forms within 360 femtoseconds to give a linear and covalently bonded trimer complex A–B–C. The trimer exhibits harmonic vibrations that we map and unambiguously assign to specific normal modes using only the experimental data. In principle, more intense X-rays could visualize the motion not only of highly scattering atoms such as gold but also of lighter atoms such as carbon and nitrogen, which will open the door to the direct tracking of the atomic motions involved in many chemical reactions.
doi:10.3204/pubdb-2020-03737 fatcat:6v455tlxwbeonnyxjq4iyxkkny
Citation

Jonghyun Kim, Shunsuke Nozawa, Hanui Kim, Eun Hyuk Choi, Tokushi Sato, Tae Wu Kim, Kyung Hwan Kim, Hosung Ki, Jungmin Kim, Minseo Choi, Yunbeom Lee, Jun Heo, Key Young Oang, Kouhei Ichiyanagi, Ryo Fukaya, Jae Hyuk Lee, Jaeku Park, Intae Eom, Sae Hwan Chun, Sunam Kim, Minseok Kim, Tetsuo Katayama, Tadashi Togashi, Sigeki Owada, Makina Yabashi, Sang Jin Lee, Seonggon Lee, Chi Woo Ahn, Doo-Sik Ahn, Jiwon Moon, Seungjoo Choi, Joonghan Kim, Taiha Joo, Jeongho Kim, Shin-ichi Adachi, Hyotcherl Ihee. "Mapping the emergence of molecular vibrations mediating bond formation." Nature / Physical science 582(7813) (2020) 520