Scientists Push Chemical Bonds to Unprecedented Limits.

Scientists from Durham University and the University of York have twisted molecules to their limits to challenge understanding of chemical bonds. They examined how much twisting the chemical bonding in an aromatic ring could endure before it broke. By creating overcrowded aromatic rings, they found that low levels of overcrowding made the ring twist, but without breaking its aromatic bonding. The researchers found there is a balance point, where the ring jumps back and forth between the aromatic structure and the two smaller rings. The study was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).