Molecular structure elucidation with charge-state control

Visualizing molecular charging High-resolution atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been used to control and image the charge state of organic molecules adsorbed on multilayer sodium chloride films. Fatayer et al. biased an AFM probe tip with a voltage to charge and discharge molecules such as azobenzene and porphine from cations to anions. Subsequent imaging with carbon monoxide–functionalized tips revealed changes in the conformation, bond order, and aromaticity of the organic molecules resulting from charge-state changes. Science , this issue p. 142