Subtle quantum phenomenon found to alter chemical reactivity for the first time

A new frontier has been discovered in how quantum phenomena control chemical reactivity. By colliding beams of two different reactants, a Chinese team spanning three universities has shown that the outcome can only be explained by interactions between electron spin and orbital angular momentum. This is the first time that electronic angular momentum has been found to affect such reactions, explains Xueming Yang from South University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen. The finding is ‘very special’, adds his colleague Zhigang Sun from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics.