{"id":164630,"date":"2023-05-27T05:22:45","date_gmt":"2023-05-27T10:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2023\/05\/in-a-first-researchers-capture-fleeting-transition-state-in-ring-shaped-molecules-excited-by-light"},"modified":"2023-05-27T05:22:45","modified_gmt":"2023-05-27T10:22:45","slug":"in-a-first-researchers-capture-fleeting-transition-state-in-ring-shaped-molecules-excited-by-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2023\/05\/in-a-first-researchers-capture-fleeting-transition-state-in-ring-shaped-molecules-excited-by-light","title":{"rendered":"In a first, researchers capture fleeting \u2018transition state\u2019 in ring-shaped molecules excited by light"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/in-a-first-researchers-capture-fleeting-transition-state-in-ring-shaped-molecules-excited-by-light2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Using a high-speed \u201celectron camera\u201d at the Department of Energy\u2019s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and cutting-edge quantum simulations, scientists have directly imaged a photochemical \u201ctransition state,\u201d a specific configuration of a molecule\u2019s atoms determining the chemical outcome, during a ring-opening reaction in the molecule \u03b1-terpinene. This is the first time that scientists have precisely tracked molecular structure through a photochemical ring-opening reaction, triggered when light energy is absorbed by a substance\u2019s molecules.<\/p>\n<p>The results, published in <i>Nature Communications<\/i>, could further our understanding of similar reactions with vital roles in chemistry, such as the production of vitamin D in our bodies.<\/p>\n<p>Transition states generally occur in <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/chemical+reactions\/\" rel=\"tag\" class=\"\">chemical reactions<\/a> which are triggered not by light but by heat. They are like a point of no return for molecules involved in a chemical reaction: As the molecules gain the energy needed to fuel the reaction, they rearrange themselves into a fleeting configuration before they complete their transformation into new molecules.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Using a high-speed \u201celectron camera\u201d at the Department of Energy\u2019s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and cutting-edge quantum simulations, scientists have directly imaged a photochemical \u201ctransition state,\u201d a specific configuration of a molecule\u2019s atoms determining the chemical outcome, during a ring-opening reaction in the molecule \u03b1-terpinene. This is the first time that scientists have precisely tracked [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":367,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,48,1617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-164630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chemistry","category-particle-physics","category-quantum-physics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/367"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164630\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}