TY - JOUR A1 - Beye, Martin A1 - Öberg, Henrik A1 - Xin, Hongliang A1 - Dakovski, Georgi L. A1 - Föhlisch, Alexander A1 - Gladh, Jorgen A1 - Hantschmann, Markus A1 - Hieke, Florian A1 - Kaya, Sarp A1 - Kühn, Danilo A1 - LaRue, Jerry A1 - Mercurio, Giuseppe A1 - Minitti, Michael P. A1 - Mitra, Ankush A1 - Moeller, Stefan P. A1 - Ng, May Ling A1 - Nilsson, Anders A1 - Nordlund, Dennis A1 - Norskov, Jens A1 - Öström, Henrik A1 - Ogasawara, Hirohito A1 - Persson, Mats A1 - Schlotter, William F. A1 - Sellberg, Jonas A. A1 - Wolf, Martin A1 - Abild-Pedersen, Frank A1 - Pettersson, Lars G. M. A1 - Wurth, Wilfried T1 - Chemical Bond Activation Observed with an X-ray Laser JF - The journal of physical chemistry letters N2 - The concept of bonding and antibonding orbitals is fundamental in chemistry. The population of those orbitals and the energetic difference between the two reflect the strength of the bonding interaction. Weakening the bond is expected to reduce this energetic splitting, but the transient character of bond-activation has so far prohibited direct experimental access. Here we apply time-resolved soft X-ray spectroscopy at a free electron laser to directly observe the decreased bonding antibonding splitting following bond-activation using an ultrashort optical laser pulse. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.6b01543 SN - 1948-7185 VL - 7 SP - 3647 EP - 3651 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ostrom, H. A1 - Oberg, H. A1 - Xin, H. A1 - Larue, J. A1 - Beye, Martin A1 - Gladh, J. A1 - Ng, M. L. A1 - Sellberg, J. A. A1 - Kaya, S. A1 - Mercurio, G. A1 - Nordlund, D. A1 - Hantschmann, Markus A1 - Hieke, F. A1 - Kuehn, D. A1 - Schlotter, W. F. A1 - Dakovski, G. L. A1 - Turner, J. J. A1 - Minitti, M. P. A1 - Mitra, A. A1 - Moeller, S. P. A1 - Föhlisch, Alexander A1 - Wolf, M. A1 - Wurth, W. A1 - Persson, Mats A1 - Norskov, J. K. A1 - Abild-Pedersen, Frank A1 - Ogasawara, Hirohito A1 - Pettersson, Lars G. M. A1 - Nilsson, A. T1 - Probing the transition state region in catalytic CO oxidation on Ru JF - Science N2 - Femtosecond x-ray laser pulses are used to probe the carbon monoxide (CO) oxidation reaction on ruthenium (Ru) initiated by an optical laser pulse. On a time scale of a few hundred femtoseconds, the optical laser pulse excites motions of CO and oxygen (O) on the surface, allowing the reactants to collide, and, with a transient close to a picosecond (ps), new electronic states appear in the OK-edge x-ray absorption spectrum. Density functional theory calculations indicate that these result from changes in the adsorption site and bond formation between CO and O with a distribution of OC-O bond lengths close to the transition state (TS). After 1 ps, 10% of the CO populate the TS region, which is consistent with predictions based on a quantum oscillator model. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1261747 SN - 0036-8075 SN - 1095-9203 VL - 347 IS - 6225 SP - 978 EP - 982 PB - American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science CY - Washington ER -