title: The Effect of Solvation on Electron Attachment to Pure and Hydrated Pyrimidine Clusters.
abstract: The interaction of low-energy electrons with biomolecules plays an important role in the radiation-induced alteration of biological tissue at the molecular level. At electron energies below 15 eV, dissociative electron attachment is one of the most important processes in terms of the chemical transformation of molecules. So far, a common approach to study processes at the molecular level has been to carry out investigations with single biomolecular building blocks like pyrimidine as model molecules. Electron attachment to single pyrimidine, as well as to pure clusters and hydrated clusters, was investigated in this study. In striking contrast to the situation with isolated molecules and hydrated clusters, where no anionic monomer is detectable, we were able to observe the molecular anion for the pure clusters. Furthermore, there is evidence that solvation effectively prevents the ring fragmentation of pyrimidine after electron capture.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Ionenphysik und Angewandte Physik and Center for Molecular Biosciences, Universität Innsbruck, Technikerstrasse 25, 6020 Innsbruck (Austria).
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Neustetter
authors.affiliation: Institut für Ionenphysik und Angewandte Physik and Center for Molecular Biosciences, Universität Innsbruck, Technikerstrasse 25, 6020 Innsbruck (Austria).
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aysina
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Colisões Atómicas e Moleculares, CEFITEC, Departamento de Física, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Campus de Caparica, 2829-516 Caparica (Portugal). f.ferreiradasilva@fct.unl.pt.
authors.forename: Filipe Ferreira
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.affiliation: Institut für Ionenphysik und Angewandte Physik and Center for Molecular Biosciences, Universität Innsbruck, Technikerstrasse 25, 6020 Innsbruck (Austria). Stephan.Denifl@uibk.ac.at.
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Denifl
mesh_terms: D004583:Electrons; D008958:Models, Molecular; D011743:Pyrimidines / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011743:Pyrimidines; C030986:pyrimidine
keywords: biomolecular clusters; metastable compounds; negative-ion formation; reaction mechanisms; solvent effects