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Hartweg S, Hochlaf M, Garcia GA, Nahon L. Photoionization Dynamics and Proton Transfer within the Adenine-Thymine Nucleobase Pair. J Phys Chem Lett 2023; 14:3698-3705. [PMID: 37040591 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c00564] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Studying the stability of hydrogen-bonded nucleobase pairs, at the heart of the genetic code, is of utmost importance for an in-depth understanding of basic mechanisms of life and biomolecular evolution. We present here a VUV single photon ionization dynamic study of the nucleobase pair adenine-thymine (AT), revealing its ionization and dissociative ionization thresholds via double imaging electron/ion coincidence spectroscopy. The experimental data, consisting of cluster mass-resolved threshold photoelectron spectra and photon energy-dependent ion kinetic energy release distributions, allow the unambiguous distinction of the dissociation of AT into protonated adenine AH+ and a dehydrogenated thymine radical T(-H) from dissociative ionization processes of other nucleobase clusters. Comparison to high-level ab initio calculations indicates that our experimental observations can be explained by a single hydrogen-bonded conformer present in our molecular beam and allows the estimation of an upper limit of the barrier of the proton transfer in the ionized AT pair.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Hartweg
- Synchrotron Soleil, L'Orme des Merisiers, Départementale 128, 91190 St Aubin, France
- University of Freiburg, Institute of Physics, Hermann-Herder-Straße 3, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
| | - Majdi Hochlaf
- Université Gustave Eiffel, COSYS/IMSE, 5 Bd Descartes, 77454 Champs sur Marne, France
| | - Gustavo A Garcia
- Synchrotron Soleil, L'Orme des Merisiers, Départementale 128, 91190 St Aubin, France
| | - Laurent Nahon
- Synchrotron Soleil, L'Orme des Merisiers, Départementale 128, 91190 St Aubin, France
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Zhang C, Lin X, Tang X, Fittschen C, Hartweg S, Garcia GA, Long B, Zhang W, Nahon L. Vacuum ultraviolet photochemistry of sulfuric acid vapor: a combined experimental and theoretical study. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2022; 24:2015-2021. [PMID: 35018921 DOI: 10.1039/d1cp05237c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
We present a vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization study of the gas-phase sulfuric acid (H2SO4) molecule in the 11-14 eV energy range by using the method of synchrotron radiation-based double imaging photoelectron photoion coincidence (i2PEPICO) spectroscopy complemented with accurate theoretical calculations. The slow photoelectron spectrum (SPES) of H2SO4 has been acquired and the three electronic states of H2SO4+, X2A, A2A and B2A have been populated and assigned. The adiabatic ionization energy of the H2SO4 molecule towards the X2A cationic ground state is measured at 11.684 ± 0.006 eV, in accordance with high-level calculated findings. With increasing photon energies, the H2SO4+ cation dissociates into HSO3+ and OH fragments and their adiabatic appearance energy is measured at 13.498 ± 0.007 eV. Then, the enthalpies of formation for the species involved in the photoionization and dissociative photoionization have been determined through a thermochemical cycle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cuihong Zhang
- Laboratory of Atmospheric Physico-Chemistry, Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, HFIPS, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, 230031 Anhui, China. .,Graduate School, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026 Anhui, China.,University Lille, CNRS, UMR 8522, PC2A - Physicochimie des Processus de Combustion et de l'Atmosphère, F-59000 Lille, France
| | - Xiaoxiao Lin
- Laboratory of Atmospheric Physico-Chemistry, Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, HFIPS, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, 230031 Anhui, China.
| | - Xiaofeng Tang
- Laboratory of Atmospheric Physico-Chemistry, Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, HFIPS, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, 230031 Anhui, China.
| | - Christa Fittschen
- University Lille, CNRS, UMR 8522, PC2A - Physicochimie des Processus de Combustion et de l'Atmosphère, F-59000 Lille, France
| | - Sebastian Hartweg
- Synchrotron SOLEIL, L'Orme des Merisiers, St. Aubin BP 48, 91192 Gif sur Yvette, France.
| | - Gustavo A Garcia
- Synchrotron SOLEIL, L'Orme des Merisiers, St. Aubin BP 48, 91192 Gif sur Yvette, France.
| | - Bo Long
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang, 550025 Guizhou, China
| | - Weijun Zhang
- Laboratory of Atmospheric Physico-Chemistry, Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, HFIPS, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, 230031 Anhui, China.
| | - Laurent Nahon
- Synchrotron SOLEIL, L'Orme des Merisiers, St. Aubin BP 48, 91192 Gif sur Yvette, France.
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Wu X, Zhou X, Bjelić S, Hemberger P, Sztáray B, Bodi A. A plethora of isomerization processes and hydrogen scrambling in the fragmentation of the methanol dimer cation: a PEPICO study. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2022; 24:1437-1446. [PMID: 34984425 DOI: 10.1039/d1cp05155e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
The valence photoionization of light and deuterated methanol dimers was studied by imaging photoelectron photoion coincidence spectroscopy in the 10.00-10.35 eV photon energy range. Methanol clusters were generated in a rich methanol beam in nitrogen after expansion into vacuum. They generally photoionize dissociatively to protonated methanol cluster cations, (CH3OH)nH+. However, the stable dimer parent ion (CH3OH)2+ is readily detected below the dissociation threshold to yield the dominant CH3OH2+ fragment ion. In addition to protonated methanol, we could also detect the water- and methyl-loss fragment ions of the methanol dimer cation for the first time. These newly revealed fragmentation channels are slow and cannot compete with protonated methanol cation formation at higher internal energies. In fact, the water- and methyl-loss fragment ions appear together and disappear at a ca. 150 meV higher energy in the breakdown diagram. Experiments with selectively deuterated methanol samples showed H scrambling involving two hydroxyl and one methyl hydrogens prior to protonated methanol formation. These insights guided the potential energy surface exploration to rationalize the dissociative photoionization mechanism. The potential energy surface was further validated by a statistical model including isotope effects to fit the experiment for the light and the perdeuterated methanol dimers simultaneously. The (CH3OH)2+ parent ion dissociates via five parallel channels at low internal energies. The loss of both CH2OH and CH3O neutral fragments leads to protonated methanol. However, the latter, direct dissociation channel is energetically forbidden at low energies. Instead, an isomerization transition state is followed by proton transfer from a methyl group, which leads to the CH3(H)OH+⋯CH2OH ion, the precursor to the CH2OH-, H2O-, and CH3-loss fragments after further isomerization steps, in part by a roaming mechanism. Water loss yields the ethanol cation, and two paths are proposed to account for m/z 49 fragment ions after CH3 loss. The roaming pathways are quickly outcompeted by hydrogen bond breaking to yield CH3OH2+, which explains the dominance of the protonated methanol fragment ion in the mass spectrum.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiangkun Wu
- Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland.
| | - Xiaoguo Zhou
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
| | - Saša Bjelić
- Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland.
| | | | - Bálint Sztáray
- University of the Pacific, Department of Chemistry, Stockton, CA 95211, USA
| | - Andras Bodi
- Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland.
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