{
  "abstract": "Photoinduced transformations of organic ring molecules play a crucial role in numerous physical, chemical and biological processes, ranging from biosynthesis of vitamin D to optical switching in molecular electronics. Although the development of a plethora of ultrafast techniques such as time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, ultrafast electron and x-ray diffraction and transient x-ray absorption has recently enabled detailed investigations of the electronic and nuclear dynamics in several ring conversion reactions, direct and unambiguous imaging of the nuclear motion, especially during the first 100 fs of a reaction, is still a major challenge. As a consequence, the reaction mechanisms often remain controversial even for extensively studied prototypical systems. Here we show how time-resolved Coulomb explosion imaging can be used to directly map the molecular ring rearrangement upon ultraviolet excitation of gas-phase furan, a reaction for which widely contradicting predictions and observations have been reported. By directly imaging the motion of the individual atoms of the carbon backbone of the molecule upon excitation at 198 nm, we reveal the presence of a strong ring-opening pathway that is completed in less than 70 fs. With the development of higher repetition rate lasers, we anticipate that our approach will enable atom-by-atom mapping of a broad range of ultrafast photochemical reactions.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. elwang@ustc.edu.cn",
    "J. R. Macdonald Laboratory, Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA. elwang@ustc.edu.cn",
    "J. R. Macdonald Laboratory, Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA",
    "Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China",
    "European XFEL, Schenefeld, Germany",
    "Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany",
    "J. R. Macdonald Laboratory, Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA. rudenko@ksu.edu",
    "J. R. Macdonald Laboratory, Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA. rolles@ksu.edu"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 14,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Enliang Wang",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5703-6501"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Surjendu Bhattacharyya",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7107-8006"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Keyu Chen",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9695-8242"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Kurtis Borne",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4535-4123"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Farzaneh Ziaee",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5897-2502"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Shashank Pathak",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7916-0191"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Huynh Van Sa Lam",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4767-5390"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Anbu Selvam Venkatachalam",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5206-6955"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Xingyu Guo",
      "orcid": "0009-0001-9486-3995"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Xiangjun Chen"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Rebecca Boll",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6286-4064"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Till Jahnke"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Artem Rudenko",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9154-8463"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Daniel Rolles",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3965-3477"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9473pwq0mx80k.bib",
  "cited_by": 11,
  "doi": "10.1038/s41467-026-75191-6",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "9473pwq0mx80k",
  "issns": [
    "2041-1723"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-75191-6",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "3107|Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W4388604095",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-75191-6_reference.pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC13473572",
  "pmid": "42409808",
  "published": "2026-07-06",
  "publisher": "Nature Portfolio",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9473pwq0mx80k.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:18Z",
      "native_id": "W4388604095",
      "source": "openalex",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-75191-6"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "openalex:3107|Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications",
      "subfield": "optics-photonics"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Time-resolved Coulomb explosion imaging of a photochemical ring opening reaction",
  "title_text": "Time-resolved Coulomb explosion imaging of a photochemical ring opening reaction",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-06T13:20:25Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9473pwq0mx80k",
  "venue": "Nature Communications",
  "versions": []
}