BEIJING, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Researchers from IBM Research Europe, the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain and the University of Regensburg in Germany have for the first time changed the bonds between atoms within individual molecules and created new bonds based on them. The research, published in the latest issue of the journal Science, will help scientists further understand redox reactions and create new molecules.

The researchers note that current approaches to making complex molecules or molecular devices are often quite challenging, like throwing a box of Legos into a washing machine and hoping to make some useful connections between them. But in the latest study, they used scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to break the atomic bonds within molecules and then create new bonds to customize the molecules, thus greatly simplifying the task.

The researchers explain that they first placed the sample material inside the scanning tunneling microscope and then broke specific bonds. More specifically, they first extracted four chlorine atoms from the core of a tetracyclic compound as a starting molecule, and then moved the tip of the scanning tunneling microscope to a carbon (C)-chlorine (Cl) bond and electrically broke the atomic bond. Doing so for other carbon-chlorine and carbon-carbon bonds results in the formation of a double radical, leaving six free electrons which can form new bonds.

In one test to create a new molecule, the team used free electrons (and a certain amount of high voltage) to form diagonal carbon-carbon bonds, resulting in bent alkynes. And in another test, they applied a certain amount of low voltage to create cyclobutadiene rings.

The team emphasizes that the latest research was made possible with the help of ultra-high-precision tunneling technology developed at IBM's European labs, helping scientists to better understand redox reactions and create new kinds of molecules.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)