Formation of anion fragments from gas-phase glycine by low energy (0–15 eV) electron impact

Abstract

We have measured the formation of anion fragments in gas phase glycine (H2NCH2COOH) via dissociative electron attachment (DEA) reactions in the 0–15 eV electron energy range, using a monochromatic electron beam and mass spectrometric detection of the negative ions. By far the most intense product observed is the closed shell glycine anion (H2NCH2COO)− which appears from a low-energy resonance with a peak located at 1.4 eV and a cross section in the range 10−16 cm2. The corresponding precursor ion can be characterized by electron attachment into the empty π* orbital of the −COOH group as recently assigned from electron transmission experiments and ab initio self-consistent field calculations [Aflatooni, Hitt, Gallup, and Burrow, J. Chem. Phys. 115, 6489 (2001)]. This precursor state is also observed to decompose (with much lower intensity) yielding a negative ion fragment with 58 amu, which is attributed to anions of the stoichiometric composition H2C2O2− or H4C2NO−. A further prominent DEA peak is observed at 6 eV, which is likely associated with a core excited resonance, and leads to formation of at least six different negative ion fragment species with the following mass numbers: 16 amu (O−/NH2−), 17 amu (OH−), 26 amu (CN−), 28 amu (H2CN−), 45 amu (HCO2−), 56 amu (H2C2NO−).