Experimental and ab initio theoretical studies of electron binding to formamide, N-methylformamide, and N,N-dimethylformamide

Interaction of low-energy electrons with radiosensitizers

We provide an experimentalist's perspective on the present state-of-the-art in the studies of low-energy electron interactions with common radiosensitizers, including compounds used in combined chemo-radiation therapy and their model systems. Low-energy electrons are important secondary species formed during the interaction of ionizing radiation with matter. Their role in the radiation chemistry of living organisms has become an important topic for more than 20 years. With the increasing number of works and reviews in the field, we would like to focus here on a very narrow area of compounds that have been shown to have radio-sensitizing properties on the one hand, and high reactivity towards low-energy electrons on the other hand. Gas phase experiments studying electron attachment to isolated molecules and environmental effects on reaction dynamics are reviewed for modified DNA components, nitroimidazoles, and organometallics. In the end, we provide a perspective on the future directions that may be important for transferring the fundamental knowledge about the processes induced by low-energy electrons into practice in the field of rational design of agents for concomitant chemo-radiation therapy.

Dipole-Supported Electronic Resonances Mediate Electron-Induced Amide Bond Cleavage

Dissociative electron attachment (DEA) plays a key role in radiation damage of biomolecules under high-energy radiation conditions. The initial step in DEA is often rationalized in terms of resonant electron capture into one of the metastable valence states of a molecule followed by its fragmentation. Our combined theoretical and experimental investigations indicate that the manifold of states responsible for electron capture in the DEA process can be dominated by core-excited (shake-up) dipole-supported resonances. Specifically, we present the results of experimental and computational studies of the gas-phase DEA to three prototypical peptide molecules, formamide, N-methylformamide (NMF), and N,N-dimethyl-formamide (DMF). In contrast to the case of electron capture by positively charged peptides in which amide bond rupture is rare compared to N─C_{α} bond cleavage, fragmentation of the amide bond was observed in each of these three molecules. The ion yield curves for ions resulting from this amide bond cleavage, such as NH_{2}^{-} for formamide, NHCH_{3}^{-} for NMF, and N(CH_{3})_{2}^{-} for DMF, showed a double-peak structure in the region between 5 and 8 eV. The peaks are assigned to Feshbach resonances including core-excited dipole-supported resonances populated upon electron attachment based on high-level electronic structure calculations. Moreover, the lower energy peak is attributed to formation of the core-excited resonance that correlates with the triplet state of the neutral molecule. The latter process highlights the role of optically spin-forbidden transitions promoted by electron impact in the DEA process.

Insights into the dehydrogenation of 2-thiouracil induced by slow electrons: Comparison of 2-thiouracil and 1-methyl-2-thiouracil

In the present contribution, we study dissociative electron attachment to 1-methyl-2-thiouracil that has been synthesized and purified prior to the measurements. We compare the results with those previously obtained from 2-thiouracil. The comparison of the yield of the dehydrogenated parent anion from both the compounds allows us to assign the site from which the H atom is expulsed and to predict the mechanism that is involved in the formation of the peaks within the ion yield curve. It appears that the dehydrogenation observed for 2-thiouracil arising from the vibrational Feshbach resonances (at 0.7 and 1.0 eV) and a π^*/σ^* transition (at 0.1 eV) involves the bond cleavage at the N₁ site, while that at the N₃ site operates via the π^*/σ^* transition and occurs in the energy range of 1.1-3.3 eV. Besides the loss of the H atom from 1-methyl-2-thiouracil, we observe a relatively strong signal due to the loss of an entire methyl group (not observed from methyl-substituted thymine and uracil) that is formed from the N₁-CH₃ bond cleavage and can mimic the N-glycosidic bond cleavage within the DNA macromolecule.

The effects of exfoliation, organic solvents and anodic activation on the catalytic hydrogen evolution reaction of tungsten disulfide

The rational design of transition metal dichalcogenide electrocatalysts for efficiently catalyzing the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is believed to lead to the generation of a renewable energy carrier. To this end, our work has made three main contributions. At first, we have demonstrated that exfoliation via ionic liquid assisted grinding combined with gradient centrifugation is an efficient method to exfoliate bulk WS₂ to nanosheets with a thickness of a few atomic layers and lateral size dimensions in the range of 100 nm to 2 nm. These WS₂ nanosheets decorated with scattered nanodots exhibited highly enhanced catalytic performance for HER with an onset potential of -130 mV vs. RHE, an overpotential of 337 mV at 10 mA cm^-2 and a Tafel slope of 80 mV dec^-1 in 0.5 M H₂SO₄. Secondly, we found a strong aging effect on the electrocatalytic performance of WS₂ stored in high boiling point organic solvents such as dimethylformamide (DMF). Importantly, the HER ability could be recovered by removing the organic (DMF) residues, which obstructed the electron transport, with acetone. Thirdly, we established that the HER performance of WS₂ nanosheets/nanodots could be significantly enhanced by activating the electrode surface at a positive voltage for a very short time (60 s), decreasing the kinetic overpotential by more than 80 mV at 10 mA cm^-2. The performance enhancement was found to arise primarily from the ability of a formed proton-intercalated amorphous tungsten trioxide (a-WO₃) to provide additional active sites and favourably modify the immediate chemical environment of the WS₂ catalyst, rendering it more favorable for local proton delivery and/or transport to the active edge site of WS₂. Our results provide new insights into the effects of organic solvents and electrochemical activation on the catalytic performance of two-dimensional WS₂ for HER.

Structural investigations of N-methylformamide-water mixtures at various concentrations

Structural investigations of N-methylformamide-water mixtures (NMF-water) are performed at room temperature and atmospheric pressure for two water molar fractions x w = 0.66 and x w = 0.75 . This paper extends our recent study on the equimolar system. H-bond networks are preferentially formed between NMF and water molecules. Among a large variety of DFT optimized models, X-ray scattering data shows that the local order of each mixture is better described by a tetramer where one NMF molecule is connected to three water molecules. No self-association is observed in the considered systems. The effect of hydration is compared to the temperature and pressure effects in some hydrogen-bonded liquids.

Density functional theory study of self-association of N-methylformamide and its effect on intramolecular and intermolecular geometrical parameters and thecis/transpopulation

The single-point total energy (E) of several acyclic and cyclic oligomers of N-methylformamide (NMF) was computed by the first time without any geometrical restriction, using the B3LYP6-31G* method of the density functional theory in order to determine the effect of self-association on intramolecular geometrical parameters of cis- and trans-NMF, the intermolecular distances of the hydrogen-bonding chains formed by NMF as well as intermolecular association energies including counterpoise corrections. It is concluded that liquid NMF exists mainly as polymers formed by self-association of trans-NMF units, whereas the cis-NMF isomer occurs as isolated units inserted along the chains. These computational results are in accordance with the experimentally determined predominance (ca. 90%) of trans-NMF population by means of (1)H- NMR and other spectroscopic techniques, but in severe contradiction with a recent interpretation of x-ray diffraction data on liquid NMF, postulating a cyclic trimer of cis-NMF (c-C(3)) as the predominating species. The counterpoise-corrected values of the association energy, DeltaE(CP), calculated for cyclic oligomers, increase with the polymerization degree (n) revealing a high grade of cooperative effect for amidic hydrogen-bonded chains. Noteworthy, the difference between the DeltaE(CP) values of the cyclic cis- and trans-homooligomers of NMF is positive for n=2 and 3 but negative for n > or =4.

Electron localization in negatively charged formamide clusters studied by photodetachment spectroscopy

Size-dependent features of the electron localization in negatively charged formamide clusters (FAn-, n = 5-21) have been studied by photodetachment spectroscopy. In the photoelectron spectra for all the sizes studied, two types of bands due to different isomers of anions were found. The low binding energy band peaking around 1 eV is assigned to the solvated electron state by relative photodetachment cross-section measurements in the near-infrared region. It is suggested that nascent electron trapping is dominated by formation of the solvated electron. The higher energy band originates from the covalent anion state generated after a significant relaxation process, which exhibits a rapid increase of electron binding energy as a function of the cluster size. A unique behavior showing a remarkable band intensity of the higher energy band was found only for n = 9.

Infrared Spectrum and Structural Assignment of the Water Trimer Anion

The bending vibrational spectrum of the perdeutero isotopomer of the water trimer anion has been measured and compared with spectra calculated using the MP2, CCSD, and Becke3LYP electronic structure methods. Due to its low electron binding energy (approximately 150 meV), only the OD bending region of the IR spectrum of (D2O)3(-) is accessible experimentally, with electron ejection dominating at higher photon energies. The calculated spectrum of the isomer having three water molecules arranged in a chain agrees best with the experimental spectrum. In the chain isomer, the excess electron is bound to the terminal water monomer with two dangling OH groups. This is consistent with the electron binding mechanism established previously for the (H2O)n(-) (n = 2, 4-6) anions.

Neutron scattering study of the H-bond network in amorphous N-methylformamide

Original investigations of structural properties in noncrystalline solid N-methylformamide (HCONHCH(3)) are presented in this paper. After description of the sample preparation, the elastic neutron scattering formalism is applied to deduce the coherent scattering cross section for amorphous N-methylformamide. The contribution of each possible monomer (cis or trans) is computed and the corresponding distinct structure factor is deduced. Our measurements clearly show that the hydrogen-bond network occurs in amorphous N-methylformamide between C=O and N-H groups. The experimental spectra are consistent with an open-chain structure similar to the one existing in the crystalline form. The more probable clusters that have been identified in the liquid are also examined.

Dipole-bound anions of highly polar molecules: Ethylene carbonate and vinylene carbonate

Results of experimental and theoretical studies of dipole-bound negative ions of the highly polar molecules ethylene carbonate (EC, C3H4O3, mu=5.35 D) and vinylene carbonate (VC, C3H2O3, mu=4.55 D) are presented. These negative ions are prepared in Rydberg electron transfer (RET) reactions in which rubidium (Rb) atoms, excited to ns or nd Rydberg states, collide with EC or VC molecules to produce EC- or VC- ions. In both cases ions are produced only when the Rb atoms are excited to states described by a relatively narrow range of effective principal quantum numbers, n*; the greatest yields of EC- and VC- are obtained for n*(max)=9.0+/-0.5 and 11.6+/-0.5, respectively. Charge transfer from low-lying Rydberg states of Rb is characteristic of a large excess electron binding energy (Eb) of the neutral parent; employing the previously derived empirical relationship Eb=23/n*(max)(2.8) eV, the electron binding energies are estimated to be 49+/-8 meV for EC and 24+/-3 meV for VC. Electron photodetachment studies of EC- show that the excess electron is bound by 49+/-5 meV, in excellent agreement with the RET results, lending credibility to the empirical relationship between Eb and n*(max). Vertical electron affinities for EC and VC are computed employing aug-cc-pVDZ atom-centered basis sets supplemented with a (5s5p) set of diffuse Gaussian primitives to support the dipole-bound electron; at the CCSD(T) level of theory the computed electron affinities are 40.9 and 20.1 meV for EC and VC, respectively.

Theory of dipole-bound anions

The problem of the binding of an excess electron to polar molecules and their clusters has long fascinated researchers. Although excess electrons bound to such species tend to be very extended spatially and to have little spatial overlap with the valence electrons of the neutral molecules, inclusion of electron correlation effects is essential for quantitatively describing the electron binding. The major electron correlation contribution may be viewed as a dispersion interaction between the excess electron and the electrons of the molecule or cluster. Recent work using a one-electron Drude model to describe excess electrons interacting with polar molecules is reviewed.