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Yes—but the first images were not ordinary photographs. In 2013, researchers used a force-sensing atomic-force microscope to map individual bonds in a molecule on a silver surface before and after it reacted when heated above 90 °C. Later techniques have gone further, mapping controlled bond breaking, watching catalytic atoms move and capturing electron dynamics on femtosecond timescales.
What did the 2013 images actually show?
The Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley team imaged a surface-bound oligo-enediyne derivative containing 26 carbon atoms and 14 hydrogen atoms. Its carbon framework included three connected benzene rings. The researchers recorded the molecule before and after a reaction that began when the sample temperature exceeded 90 °C. The published images used three-ångström scale bars for structures about a nanometer across.
The result was significant because the images resolved the molecule’s covalent-bond structure at the single-bond level on both sides of a complex organic reaction. Felix Fischer, the study’s lead researcher, described it as direct, single-bond-resolved imaging of individual molecules immediately before and after such a reaction. It was a before-and-after view of a controlled surface reaction—not a continuous movie of the reaction happening.
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Why the team changed instruments
The researchers first tried scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), but its resolution was not sufficient to identify the roughly one-nanometer reaction products reliably. They switched to noncontact atomic-force microscopy (nc-AFM), attaching a carbon-monoxide molecule to the microscope tip. As the tip passed over the surface, the instrument registered tiny changes in force caused by interactions between the tip and the molecule.
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The resulting signal was a force map, not a camera image. The researchers reported that the contrast let them distinguish single, double and triple bonds. In Fischer’s words, “What you see is what you have – the effects of the electron forces among the atoms, and even the bond order.”
Are these actual photographs of molecules?
No. A visible-light camera does not resolve the covalent bonds in an individual molecule. In the 2013 work, the microscope measured short-range forces with a functionalized probe and rendered those measurements as an image. Other methods convert tunneling current, vibrational signals, transmitted electrons or X-ray absorption into maps or time-resolved records.
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Those outputs can resemble familiar line-bond diagrams or ball-and-stick models, but the resemblance is a way to interpret measured signals—not an optical view of colored atoms. “Bond-resolved image,” “force map” and “atomic-resolution movie” are more precise descriptions than “photograph.”
How later methods extended molecular imaging
Subsequent work addressed different questions from the 2013 before-and-after experiment. Some studies mapped bonding, one used STM electrons to induce a particular dissociation, and others followed catalysis or electronic dynamics over time.
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| Method or study | What it measured or did | What it established | Time information |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 nc-AFM, Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley | Short-range forces sensed by a carbon-monoxide-functionalized tip over a molecule on silver. | Bond-resolved images of a molecule before and after a heat-triggered reaction; reported contrast distinguished single, double and triple bonds. | Before and after heating above 90 °C; not a continuous reaction movie. |
| DOE itProbe | An STM tip carrying a single carbon-monoxide molecule mapped cobalt phthalocyanine on silver. | Two-dimensional bonding maps that gave a physical basis for the familiar ball-and-stick representation. | Not stated in the cited DOE account. |
| STM-induced dissociation, RIKEN | STM electrons excited C–H vibrations in dimethyl disulfide (CH3S–SCH3) on copper. | The excitation provided an indirect route to breaking the S–S bond, producing two methyl-thiolate fragments. | Not stated in the cited RIKEN account. |
| SMART-EM, 2025 | Low-dose electron microscopy recorded atoms moving during alcohol dehydrogenation catalysis. | The study reported direct atomic-level observation of catalysis, short-lived intermediates and a previously hidden reaction pathway. | Videos followed atomic motion; a frame rate or numerical temporal resolution is not stated in the cited study summary. |
| LCLS X-ray study, 2026 | Two precisely timed X-ray flashes produced measurements at multiple delays. | Recorded early electronic dynamics, including Coster–Kronig decay and quantum electron coherence, followed by the onset of bond breaking and formation. | Ten timestamps within the first 10 femtoseconds; bond changes began at about 10 femtoseconds. |
What is different about AFM, STM, SMART-EM and X-ray measurements?
Atomic-force microscopy: map forces
In nc-AFM, a sharp probe scans above a sample without relying on ordinary photographic light. Its mechanical response changes with short-range interactions between the tip and the surface. A chemically functionalized tip, such as the carbon-monoxide tip used in the 2013 study, can sharpen the bond-related contrast. This approach supported the 2013 claim about bond order and the molecule’s structure before and after reaction.
Scanning tunneling microscopy: map tunneling signals and, in some experiments, induce reactions
STM detects tunneling current between a conductive tip and a surface. In the 2013 work, STM did not resolve the reaction products well enough for reliable identification, so the team moved to nc-AFM. In separate RIKEN work, STM electrons were used to excite molecular vibrations and trigger dissociation. That experiment showed a specific route from C–H vibrational excitation to S–S bond breaking; it was not a general demonstration that STM can film arbitrary bonds breaking.
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SMART-EM: follow atomic motion during catalysis
The 2025 SMART-EM study used low-dose electron microscopy to record atoms moving during alcohol dehydrogenation. Its reported contribution was seeing catalytic activity and short-lived intermediates in motion, revealing a pathway that had previously been hidden. The cited study summary does not specify a numerical frame rate, so it should not be treated as a measurement of electron motion on the attosecond scale.
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Timed X-rays: probe the earliest electronic changes
In the 2026 LCLS work, two precisely timed X-ray flashes captured a sequence of measurements within the first 10 femtoseconds. The early measurements included Coster–Kronig decay and quantum electron coherence; bond breaking and new bond formation began at about 10 femtoseconds. This probes the electronic events that precede or accompany chemical rearrangement, rather than providing the same kind of surface-bond map as nc-AFM.
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What can a molecular movie reveal that static images cannot?
A before-and-after image identifies structural differences, but it cannot by itself show the sequence connecting them. Time-resolved measurements can reveal motion, transient intermediates and reaction pathways that a pair of endpoint structures might miss. The SMART-EM alcohol-dehydrogenation videos, for example, showed atoms moving during catalysis and supported identification of short-lived intermediates. The LCLS measurements addressed an earlier timescale still, tracking electronic events within the first 10 femtoseconds.
These methods answer complementary questions rather than offering interchangeable pictures. A force map can resolve bonding in a molecule on a surface; an STM experiment can test how injected electrons or vibrational energy trigger a reaction; electron microscopy can follow atomic rearrangement during catalysis; and timed X-rays can probe ultrafast electronic dynamics. The kind of conclusion each supports depends on what the instrument measures and how the experiment is timed.
What the “first-ever” claim does—and does not—mean
The 2013 milestone was the first reported direct, single-bond-resolved imaging of an individual molecule immediately before and after a complex organic reaction, according to the Berkeley Lab account. It did not mean scientists had taken ordinary photographs of bonds, watched every chemical reaction in real time or imaged arbitrary molecules under everyday conditions. The molecule was on a silver surface, and the reaction was initiated by heating above 90 °C.
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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Later studies expanded the kinds of molecular events researchers could observe, but they did so with different instruments, samples and timescales. The 2013 result remains a specific advance in bond-resolved imaging; subsequent movies and ultrafast measurements should be understood on their own terms.
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