X-ray imaging of chemically active valence electrons during a pericyclic reaction

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Date
2014
Volume
5
Issue
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Publisher
London : Nature Publishing Group
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Abstract

Time-resolved imaging of chemically active valence electron densities is a long-sought goal, as these electrons dictate the course of chemical reactions. However, X-ray scattering is always dominated by the core and inert valence electrons, making time-resolved X-ray imaging of chemically active valence electron densities extremely challenging. Here we demonstrate an effective and robust method, which emphasizes the information encoded in weakly scattered photons, to image chemically active valence electron densities. The degenerate Cope rearrangement of semibullvalene, a pericyclic reaction, is used as an example to visually illustrate our approach. Our work also provides experimental access to the long-standing problem of synchronous versus asynchronous bond formation and breaking during pericyclic reactions.

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Keywords
chemical bonding, electron density, imaging method, reaction kinetics, X-ray spectroscopy, Article, chemical bond, chemical reaction, chemically active valence electron density, Cope rearrangement, density, electron, Fourier transformation, pericyclic reaction, photon, radiation scattering, radiography
Citation
Bredtmann, T., Ivanov, M., & Dixit, G. (2014). X-ray imaging of chemically active valence electrons during a pericyclic reaction. 5. https://doi.org//10.1038/ncomms6589
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CC BY 4.0 Unported