Researchers measure the breakup of a single chemical bond:
Using advanced microscopy techniques at Princeton University, researchers have recorded the breaking of a single chemical bond between a carbon atom and an iron atom on different molecules.
The team used a high-resolution atomic force microscope (AFM) operating in a controlled environment at Princeton's Imaging and Analysis Center. The AFM probe, whose tip ends in a single copper atom, was moved gradually closer to the iron-carbon bond until it was ruptured. The researchers measured the mechanical forces applied at the moment of breakage, which was visible in an image captured by the microscope. A team from Princeton University, the University of Texas-Austin and ExxonMobil reported the results in a paper published Sept. 24 in Nature Communications.
"It's an incredible image — being able to actually see a single small molecule on a surface with another one bonded to it is amazing," said coauthor Craig Arnold, the Susan Dod Brown Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and director of the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM).
"The fact that we could characterize that particular bond, both by pulling on it and pushing on it, allows us to understand a lot more about the nature of these kinds of bonds — their strength, how they interact — and this has all sorts of implications, particularly for catalysis, where you have a molecule on a surface and then something interacts with it and causes it to break apart," said Arnold.
Nan Yao, a principal investigator of the study and the director of Princeton's Imaging and Analysis Center, noted that the experiments also revealed insights into how bond breaking affects a catalyst's interactions with the surface on which it's adsorbed. Improving the design of chemical catalysts has relevance for biochemistry, materials science and energy technologies, added Yao, who is also a professor of the practice and senior research scholar in PRISM.
Journal Reference:
Nan Yao, Pengcheng Chen, Dingxin Fan, Nem, et al. The Chemical Structure of a Molecule Resolved by Atomic Force Microscopy, Science (DOI: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1176210)
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @11:53AM (2 children)
It's not you . . . it's me. I've just got a lot of stuff going on now, but we can still be friends.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @02:32PM
You could even say that our bond was like steel...
(Score: 2) by Tork on Tuesday October 05 2021, @03:59PM
.
o
O
8
o o
O O
8 8
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 4, Interesting) by FatPhil on Tuesday October 05 2021, @04:53PM
But what's next? Is there anything else that's even theoretically doable that's a quantum step inwards from these kinds of things. At some point it has to stop, surely? And are we there already, will it all just be minor refinement of the same things from now on?
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @05:50PM (2 children)
Showing in theaters now, ~No Time to Die~
clearly shows the breakup of a single Bond.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday October 05 2021, @06:20PM (1 child)
plot was thin.
characters did not grow
expect re-release in months
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 05 2021, @10:55PM
Agree...too many Chemical Agents.