On Jan. 20th of 2015, scientists confirmed a new type of chemical bond: vibrational bonds. Researchers began studying the new relationship in 1989 when a reaction between bromine and muonium in a nuclear accelerator broke a common law in chemistry: reactions speed up when temperatures rise.
The reaction observed, however, slowed down. University of British Columbia chemist, Donald Fleming, theorized the reaction occurring in the nuclear accelerator was the embodiment of a theory offered in the early 1980s that suggested the existence of vibrational bonds, or bonds where lightweight atoms would move rapidly between two heavy atoms like “a Ping Pong ball bouncing between two bowling balls,” Fleming said. The bond would lead to a reduced energy state by causing the lightweight muonium atoms to briefly hold onto the two heavy bromine atoms.
In the late 1980s, when the discovery was made, technology was not advanced enough to observe the milliseconds-long reaction, however we now have the technology to do so and the occurrence has been confirmed.
Welcome to the spotlight, vibrational bond!