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Our recent paper in Physical Review Letters, Fast Molecular Compression by a Hyperthermal Collision Gives Bond-Selective Mechanochemistry, has garnered interest in many review publications. 

It has been featured in Nature Reviews Chemistry , New Scientist, and Chemistry World, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, as well as being featured in Viewpoint in Physical Review Letters. 

About the experiment: Using electrospray ion beam deposition, we collide the complex molecule Reichardt’s dye at low, hyperthermal translational energy with a copper surface and image the outcome at single-molecule level by STM. We observe bond-selective reaction induced by the translational kinetic energy. The collision impulse compresses the molecule and bends specific bonds, prompting them to react selectively. This dynamics drives the system to seek thermally inaccessible reactive pathways, since the compression timescale (subpicosecond) is much shorter than the thermalization timescale (nanosecond). The fate of the molecule depends on its orientation when hitting the surface - it can either remain intact, crack or split. This gives great insights into better understanding mechanochemistry.