The response to ultrafast laser shock loading of nine liquids was monitored in an effort to reveal evidence of chemical changes occurring during the first 350 ps following the shock front. In an effort to compare molecular structures possessing a variety of common bonding patterns, data were acquired for the liquids: cyclohexane, cyclohexene, 1,3-cyclohexadiene, benzene, water, acetonitrile, acrylonitrile, tert-butylacetylene, and phenylacetylene. Transient absorption spectra were measured in the spectral region from 440 to 780 nm over shock stress states from 7 to 20 GPa. Ultrafast dynamic ellipsometry was used to measure the shock and particle velocity as well as the shocked refractive index. Significant transient absorption attributed to chemical reaction was observed for shocked phenylacetylene and acrylonitrile. Evidence of volume decreasing chemical reactions was also observed in the ultrafast dynamic ellipsometry data for phenylacetylene and acrylonitrile. The liquid 1,3-cyclohexadiene exhibited volume decreasing reaction in the ultrafast dynamic ellipsometry data but did not exhibit an increase in the transient absorption spectra. There was no evidence of chemical reaction in cyclohexane, cyclohexene, benzene, water, acetonitrile, or tert-butylacetylene in the first 350 ps, despite the application of shock stress that was in many cases well above the reaction threshold observed at microsecond time scales.