Low energy electron and O– reactions in films of O2 coadsorbed with benzene or toluene

Mechanisms of Electron-Induced Chemistry in Molecular Ices

Electron-induced chemistry is relevant to many processes that occur when ionizing radiation interacts with matter. This includes radiation damage, curing of polymers, and nanofabrication processes but also the formation of complex molecules in molecular ices grown on dust particles in space. High-energy radiation liberates from such materials an abundance of secondary electrons of which most have energies below 20 eV. These electrons efficiently trigger reactions when they attach to molecules or induce electronic excitation and further ionization. This review focuses on the present state of insight regarding the mechanisms of reactions induced by electrons with energies between 0 and 20 eV that lead to formation of larger products in binary ice layers consisting of small molecules (H2O, CO, CH3OH, NH3, CH4, C2H4, CH3CN, C2H6) or some derivatives thereof (C2H5NH2 and (C2H5)2NH, CH2=CHCH3). It summarizes our approach to identify products and quantify their amounts based on thermal desorption spectrometry (TDS) and electron-stimulated desorption (ESD) experiments performed in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV). The overview of the results demonstrates that, although the initial electron-molecule interaction is a non-thermal process, product formation from the resulting reactive species is often governed by subsequent reactions that follow well-known thermal and radical-driven mechanisms of organic chemistry.

Electron-induced reactions in condensed films of acetonitrile and ethane

Reactions in pure and mixed films of C(2)H(6) and CD(3)CN deposited on a Au surface at 35 K have been induced by low-energy electrons and investigated by Thermal Desorption Spectrometry (TDS). The incident electron energy (E(0)) was varied between 5 and 16 eV and a number of different products were identified. Beside the main products, CD(4), CD(3)H, and C(2)D(6), molecules resulting from atom scrambling during radical chain reactions (C(2)H(5)D) and recombination products (CD(3)CD(2)CN and C(2)H(5)CD(3)) were identified while others were characteristically absent. The quantity of the different products varied with E(0). The observed electron-driven processes are in accord with previous findings from gas phase experiments on dissociative electron attachment and electron impact ionization. On this basis, reaction mechanisms leading to the formation of the observed products are suggested for different ranges of E(0).

Reactivity induced at 25 K by low-energy electron irradiation of condensed NH3-CH3COOD (1 : 1) mixture

Chemical reactivity is observed following electron irradiation of a binary mixture of ammonia (NH(3)) and acetic acid (CH(3)COOD) at 25 K, without any subsequent thermal activation, as evidenced by vibrational high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS). Analysis of the HREEL spectra and comparison with infrared and Raman data of different molecules are compatible with glycine formation in its zwitterionic form. The onset for electron induced reaction is found to be at about approximately 13 eV. The mechanisms may involve NH radicals interaction with CH(3)COOD molecules. Then glycine formation does not imply any displacement of reactants, so that it involves only NH(3) and CH(3)COOD neighboring molecules.