title: Degradation of N-acetyl tryptophan by low-energy (<12 eV) electrons.
abstract: Secondary low-energy electrons are abundantly created during the early moments following the deposition of energy by radiation into cells. Here we show the ability of slow (<12 eV) electrons to effectively decompose gas-phase N-acetyl tryptophan (NAT) which can model a simple protein. The fragmentation of NAT, initiated via a resonant electron-molecule interaction exclusively at the peptide bridge, produces a large variety of negative species. The present findings contribute to the molecular description of the initial step in the radiation-induced damage.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Chemie-Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie, Freie Universität Berlin, Takustrasse 3, D-14195 Berlin, Germany. hcarime@chemie.fu-berlin.de
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Abdoul-Carime
authors.forename: Sascha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gohlke
authors.forename: Eugen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Illenberger
mesh_terms: D004583:Electrons; D011506:Proteins / Q000528:radiation effects; D011853:Radiobiology; D014364:Tryptophan / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; C006392:N-acetyltryptophan; D014364:Tryptophan