近日，奥地利格拉茨大学Leonhard Grill团队报道了在空间上分辨单个分子的反应锥。相关论文发表在2026年7月23日出版的《科学》杂志上。

原子和分子的碰撞是成键所必需的，因此对任何化学反应都至关重要。碰撞的结果由反应物的碰撞能、相对取向和碰撞参数决定。气相碰撞研究表明，能量易于控制，但调控分子取向则很困难，而碰撞参数则完全无法控制。

研究组报道了表面上单个分子的碰撞，每个参与碰撞的化合物都在碰撞前后通过扫描隧道显微镜成像，从而能够精确控制取向和碰撞参数。研究组观察到，分子必须在狭窄的反应锥内碰撞，并且表面原子位移即使对于不利的反应路径也能促使反应发生。

附：英文原文

Title: Spatially resolving the cone of reaction for a single molecule

Author: Matthew James Timm, Adam Matěj, Ilias Gazizullin, Qifan Chen, Stefan Hecht, Pavel Jelínek, Leonhard Grill

Issue&Volume: 2026-07-23

Abstract: Collisions of atoms and molecules are required for bond formation and are thus key to any chemical reaction. Their outcome is determined by the collision energy, relative orientation, and impact parameter of the reactants. Collision studies in the gas phase have shown that energies are easily controlled, whereas it is difficult to steer the molecular orientations and completely impossible to control the impact parameter. Here, we study the collision of individual molecules at a surface where each involved compound is imaged before and after collision by scanning tunneling microscopy, allowing precise control of orientations and impact parameter. We observe that the molecules must collide in a narrow cone of reaction and that surface atom displacements can enable a reaction even for disfavored pathways.

DOI: aec7913

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aec7913