Ultrafast X-rays have captured the first real-space images of an electron cloud shifting and disappearing as a chemical bond snaps.
Ultrafast hard X-ray scattering was used to reconstruct the time-dependent density of electron pairs during a reaction. Scientists have historically only been able to see where the heavy nuclei of atoms go when a bond breaks. This technology allows us to actually 'see' the valence electrons that form the glue between atoms as they move in femtoseconds. Capturing this bonding dance in real-time provides a direct look at the most fundamental event in all of chemistry. This tool will help researchers design more efficient catalysts by showing exactly how they manipulate electron clouds. It turns the abstract world of quantum bonding into a visible, physical reality.
Real-Space Imaging of Valence-Electron Bonding Dynamics with Ultrafast Hard X-Ray Scattering
ChemRxiv · 10.26434/chemrxiv.15002782/v1
Chemical reactivity is governed by the time-dependent redistribution of valence electron density, yet ultrafast diffractive imaging probes are typically dominated by scattering from the atoms and/or core electrons and therefore primarily report nuclear motion. Building on recent hard x-ray time-resolved scattering measurements of photoexcited deuterated ammonia, we extend ultrafast x-ray scattering off the evolving valence electron density into a real-space framework by retrieving the time-depen