First Images of Reacting Molecules Snapped: Chemist's Dream Come True

It's a chemist's dream come true. Researchers have snapped an atomic-scale picture of a chemical before and after it reacts. The new images hold enormous potential for future study into how chemicals react with one another.

How exactly did the scientists accomplish this feat? They used a state-of-the-art atomic force microscope. This allowed them to take images of the chemical bonds between atoms, clearly depicting how a molecule's structure changed during a reaction. Until now, scientists have only been able to infer this type of information from spectroscopic analysis.

In order to actually image a molecule before and after a reaction, though, the researchers had to go through a few extra steps. They devised a way to chill the reaction surface and molecules to the temperature of liquid helium, which is about 4 Kelvin. This stopped the molecules from moving around so much. They then used a scanning tunneling microscope to locate all the molecules on the surface, and zeroed in on several to probe more finely with the atomic force microscope. In order to enhance the spatial resolution of their microscope, the researchers put a single carbon monoxide molecule on its tip. They then imaged the molecule, heated the surface until the molecule reacted and then chilled the surface again and imaged the products.

"By doing this on a surface, you limit reactivity but you have the advantage that you can actually look at a single molecule, give that molecule a name or number, and later look at what it turns into in the products," said Felix Fischer, UC Berkeley assistant professor of chemistry, in a news release.

These images won't just allow for study, though. They could also help scientists figure out exactly how to fine-tune chemical reactions when developing materials. More specifically, these images were created with the goal of building new grapheme nanostructures, which could potentially help create next-generation computers.

"However, the implications go far beyond just grapheme," said Fischer in a news release. "This technique will find application in the study of heterogeneous catalysis, for example." This particular application is used widely in the oil and chemical industries and involves the use of metal catalysts like platinum to speed up reactions.

The findings are published in the journal Science.