Watching a Carbon-Carbon Double Bond Respond to Light

Research team investigates the molecular response following the photoexcitation of ethylene

Ethylene contains a carbon–carbon double bond, one of the most important structural motifs in organic chemistry. Carbon–carbon double bonds are present in countless molecules, and their response to light plays a central role in processes ranging from vision and photosynthesis to molecular switches and solar-energy conversion. Despite decades of research, however, what happens immediately after such a bond absorbs light has remained surprisingly difficult to observe due to how fast the initial dynamics take place. In a recent study, researchers at the Max Born Institute, the National Research Council in Canada, and the University of Ottawa used ultrashort vacuum-ultraviolet laser pulses lasting less than four femtoseconds, combined with time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy to resolve the molecular response following the photoexcitation of ethylene.

Read further details in the MBI press release, 22.9.2026

Publication:

Nature Communications (2026): Few-femtosecond photoelectron spectroscopy reveals fundamental photodynamics of the carbon-carbon double bond in ethylene
Arnab Sen, Simon P. Neville, Martin Kretschmar, Martha Yaghoubi Jouybari, Rostyslav Danylo, José R. C. Andrade,Marc J. J. Vrakking, Albert Stolow, Tamas Nagy, Michael S. Schuurman, Arnaud Rouzée
URL, DOI oder PDF

Contact:

Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy, Leibniz Institute in Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V.
Dr. Rostyslav Danylo
+49 30 6392-1207
Rostyslav.Danylo(at)mbi-berlin.de
mbi-berlin.de