Experimental and Theoretical Studies of Dissociative Electron Attachment to Metabolites Oxaloacetic and Citric Acids

In this contribution the dissociative electron attachment to metabolites found in aerobic organisms, namely oxaloacetic and citric acids, was studied both experimentally by means of a crossed-beam setup and theoretically through density functional theory calculations. Prominent negative ion resonances from both compounds are observed peaking below 0.5 eV resulting in intense formation of fragment anions associated with a decomposition of the carboxyl groups. In addition, resonances at higher energies (3-9 eV) are observed exclusively from the decomposition of the oxaloacetic acid. These fragments are generated with considerably smaller intensities. The striking findings of our calculations indicate the different mechanism by which the near 0 eV electron is trapped by the precursor molecule to form the transitory negative ion prior to dissociation. For the oxaloacetic acid, the transitory anion arises from the capture of the electron directly into some valence states, while, for the citric acid, dipole- or multipole-bound states mediate the transition into the valence states. What is also of high importance is that both compounds while undergoing DEA reactions generate highly reactive neutral species that can lead to severe cell damage in a biological environment.

Fragmentation of Nickel(II) and Cobalt(II) Bis(acetylacetonate) Complexes Induced by Slow (<10 eV) Electrons

Metal acetylacetonate complexes have high potentiality in nanoscale fabrication processes (e.g., focus electron beam-induced deposition) thanks to the versatile character and ease of preparation compounds. In this work, we study and compare the physics and the physicochemistry induced by the interaction of low-energy (<10 eV) electrons with nickel(II) and cobalt(II) bis(acetylacetonate) complexes. The slow particles decompose the molecules via dissociative electron attachment. The nickel(II) and cobalt(II) bis(acetylacetonate) anions and the acetylacetonate negative fragments are the most dominant detected species. The experimental data are completed with density functional theory calculations to provide information on the electronic states of the molecules and the energetics for fragmentation. Finally, it is found that the interaction of low-energy electrons resulting in the decomposition of organometallic complexes in the gas phase is more efficient with the nickel(II) than with the cobalt(II) bis(acetylacetonate) complex. These results are found to be in a relative agreement with the surface experiments.

Toward Electron Encapsulation: Polynitrile Approach

This study seeks an answer to the following question: Is it possible to design a supramolecular cage that would "solvate" the excess electron in the same fashion in which several solvent molecules do that cooperatively in polar liquids? Two general strategies are outlined for this "electron encapsulation", viz. electron localization using polar groups arranged on the (i) inside of the cage or (ii) outside of the cage. The second approach is more convenient from the synthetic standpoint, but it is limited to polynitriles. We demonstrate, experimentally and theoretically, that this second approach faces a problem: the electron attaches to the nitrile groups, forming molecular anions with bent C-C-N fragments. Because the energy cost of this bending is high, for dinitrile anions in n-hexane, the binding energies for the electron are low and, for mononitriles, these binding energies are lower still, and the entropy of electron attachment is anomalously small. Density functional theory modeling of electron trapping by mononitriles in n-hexane suggests that the solute molecules substitute for the solvent molecules at the electron cavity, "solvating" the electron by their methyl groups. We argue that such species would be more correctly viewed as multimer radical anions in which the electron density is shared (mainly) between C 2p orbitals in the solute/solvent molecules, rather than cavity electrons. The way in which the excess electron density is shared by such molecules is similar to the way in which this sharing occurs in large di- and polynitrile anions, such as 1,2,4,5,7,8,10,11-octacyanocyclododecane(-). Only in this sense is the electron encapsulation possible. The work thus reveals limitations of the concept of "solvated electron" for organic liquids: it is impossible to draw a clear line between such species and a certain class of radical anions.

Electron Trapping by Polar Molecules in Alkane Liquids: Cluster Chemistry in Dilute Solution

Experimental observations are presented on condensed-phase analogues of gas-phase dipole-bound anions and negatively charged clusters of polar molecules. Both monomers and small clusters of such molecules can reversibly trap conduction band electrons in dilute alkane solutions. The dynamics and energetics of this trapping have been studied using pulse radiolysis-transient absorption spectroscopy and time-resolved photoconductivity. Binding energies, thermal detrapping rates, and absorption spectra of excess electrons attached to monomer and multimer solute traps are obtained, and possible structures for these species are discussed. "Dipole coagulation" (stepwise growth of the solute cluster around the cavity electron) predicted by Mozumder in 1972 is observed. The acetonitrile monomer is shown to solvate the electron by its methyl group, just as the alkane solvent does. The electron is dipole-bound to the CN group; the latter points away from the cavity. The resulting negatively charged species has a binding energy of 0.4 eV and absorbs in the infrared. Molecules of straight-chain aliphatic alcohols solvate the excess electron by their OH groups; at equilibrium, the predominant electron trap is a trimer or a tetramer, and the binding energy of this solute trap is ca. 0.8 eV. Trapping by smaller clusters is opposed by the entropy that drives the equilibrium toward the electron in a solvent trap. For alcohol monomers, the trapping does not occur; a slow proton-transfer reaction occurs instead. For the acetonitrile monomer, the trapping is favored energetically, but the thermal detachment is rapid (ca. 1 ns). Our study suggests that a composite cluster anion consisting of a few polar molecules imbedded in an alkane "matrix" might be the closest gas-phase analogue to the core of solvated electron in a neat polar liquid.