Mechanical C-C Bond Formation by Laser Driven Shock Wave

Mechanically induced C-C bond formation was demonstrated by the laser driven shock wave generated in liquid normal alkanes at room temperature. Gas chromatography mass spectrometry analysis revealed the dehydrogenation condensation between two alkane molecules, for seven normal alkanes from pentane to undecane. Major products were identified to be linear and branched alkane molecules with double the number of carbons, and exactly coincided with the molecules predicted by supposing that a C-C bond was formed between two starting molecules. The production of the alkane molecules showed that the C-C bond formation occurred almost evenly at all the carbon positions. The dependence of the production on the laser pulse energy clearly indicated that the process was attributed to the shock wave. The C-C bond formation observed was not a conventional passive chemical reaction but an unprecedented active reaction.