Fingerprinting fragments of fragile interstellar molecules: dissociation chemistry of pyridine and benzonitrile revealed by infrared spectroscopy and theory.

ABSTRACT: The cationic fragmentation products in the dissociative ionization of pyridine and benzonitrile have been studied by infrared action spectroscopy in a cryogenic ion trap instrument at the Free-Electron Lasers for Infrared eXperiments (FELIX) Laboratory. A comparison of the experimental vibrational fingerprints of the dominant cationic fragments with those from quantum chemical calculations revealed a diversity of molecular fragment structures. The loss of HCN/HNC is shown to be the major fragmentation channel for both pyridine and benzonitrile. Using the determined structures of the cationic fragments, potential energy surfaces have been calculated to elucidate the nature of the neutral fragment partner. In the fragmentation chemistry of pyridine, multiple non-cyclic structures are formed,

SUBMITTER: Rap DB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10510038 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature