Scientists track ultrafast formation of catalyst with X-ray laser

At the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, an international team has - for the first time - precisely tracked the surprisingly rapid process by which light rearranges the outermost electrons of a metal compound known as Fe(CO)5 and turns it into an active catalyst - a substance that promotes chemical reactions. The results come from using resonant inelastic x-ray scattering at SLAC, which also provides information about the chemical dynamics of the catalyst.