Direct quantitative measurement of the C═O⋅⋅⋅H-C bond by atomic force microscopy.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 28508080.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.1603258 and PMC identifier 5429039.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC.
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Abstract
The hydrogen atom-the smallest and most abundant atom-is of utmost importance in physics and chemistry. Although many analysis methods have been applied to its study, direct observation of hydrogen atoms in a single molecule remains largely unexplored. We use atomic force microscopy (AFM) to resolve the outermost hydrogen atoms of propellane molecules via very weak C═O⋅⋅⋅H-C hydrogen bonding just before the onset of Pauli repulsion. The direct measurement of the interaction with a hydrogen atom paves the way for the identification of three-dimensional molecules such as DNAs and polymers, building the capabilities of AFM toward quantitative probing of local chemical reactivity.