X-ray-Induced Molecular Catapult: Ultrafast Dynamics Driven by Lightweight Linkages.

Area of Science:

• Chemical Physics
• Molecular Dynamics
• Ultrafast Spectroscopy

Background:

• Chemical bond dissociation is fundamental to chemical reactions.
• Understanding ultrafast dynamics is key to controlling chemical processes.
• X-ray-driven processes offer unique insights into molecular behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the
• molecular catapult
• effect initiated by X-ray photons.
• To elucidate the role of light atomic groups in ultrafast molecular dissociation.
• To analyze three-body dissociation dynamics in bromochloromethane.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing X-ray photons to induce molecular dissociation.
• Reconstructing fragment momenta using the ion pair average (IPA) reference frame.
• Performing ab initio calculations to support experimental findings.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated X-ray-induced molecular dissociation via a
• molecular catapult
• mechanism.
• Observed dissociation into heavy fragments within femtoseconds.
• Identified light atomic groups (alkylene, alkanylene) governing nuclear dynamics.

Conclusions:

• Low-reduced-mass vibrational modes play a critical role in driving ultrafast chemical processes.
• The
• molecular catapult
• effect provides a new perspective on bond dissociation dynamics.
• This study enhances understanding of X-ray-matter interactions at the molecular level.