Call it the ultimate nature documentary. Scientists at the University of Toronto have recorded atomic motions in real time, offering a glimpse into the very essence of chemistry and biology at the atomic level.
Their recording is a direct observation of a transition state in which atoms undergo chemical transformation into new structures with new properties -- in this case the transfer of charge leading to metallic behaviour in organic molecules. It is described in a study reported in the April 18 issue of Nature.
"It's the first look at how chemistry and biology involve just a few key motions for even the most complex systems," says U of T chemistry and physics professor R. J. Dwayne Miller, principal investigator of the study. "There is an enormous reduction in complexity at the defining point, the transition state region, which makes chemical processes transferrable from one type of molecule to another. This is how new drugs or materials are made."
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