The physical properties of a liquid at an interface differ from bulk solution limits, but how this affects chemical reactivity is unclear. Now, ultrafast, surface-sensitive vibrational spectroscopy has revealed that the light-induced reaction of phenol with water is four orders of magnitude faster at the water surface than in bulk.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
adapted with permission from ref. 4, Springer Nature Ltd.
References
Fukuto, M. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 256102 (2016).
Stiopkin, I. V. et al. Nature 474, 192–195 (2011).
Steel, W. H. & Walker, R. A. Nature 424, 296–299 (2003).
Kusaka, R., Nihonyanagi, S. & Tahara, T. Nat. Chem. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-020-00619-5 (2021).
Scatena, L. F., Brown, M. G. & Richmond, G. L. Science 292, 908–912 (2001).
Du, Q., Freysz, E. & Shen, Y. R. Science 264, 826–828 (1994).
Berne, B. J., Fourkas, J. T., Walker, R. A. & Weeks, J. D. Acc. Chem. Res. 49, 1605–1613 (2016).
Buchbinder, A. M., Weitz, E. & Geiger, F. M. J. Phys. Chem. C 114, 554–566 (2010).
Benderskii, A. V. & Eisenthal, K. B. J. Phys. Chem. A 106, 7482–7490 (2002).
Eftekhari-Bafrooei, A. & Borguet, E. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 132, 3756–3761 (2010).
Hsieh, C.-S. et al. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 53, 8146–8149 (2014).
Benjamin, I. Ann. Rev. of Phys. Chem 66, 165–188 (2015).
Oliver, T. A. A., Zhang, Y., Roy, A., Ashfold, M. N. R. & Bradforth, S. E. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 6, 4159–4164 (2015).
Iqbal, A., Cheung, M. S. Y., Nix, M. G. D. & Stavrus, V. G. J. Phys. Chem. A 113, 8157–8163 (2009).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Walker, R.A. Faster chemistry at surfaces. Nat. Chem. 13, 296–297 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-021-00672-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-021-00672-8
- Springer Nature Limited