Selective Bond-Breaking in Formic Acid by Dissociative Electron Attachment

Abstract

We report the results of a joint experimental {and} theoretical study of dissociative electron attachment to formic acid (HCOOH) in the 6-9 eV region, where H${}^{-}$ fragment ions are a dominant product. Breaking of the CH and OH bonds is distinguished experimentally by deuteration of either site. We show that in this region H${}^{-}$ ions can be produced by formation of two {or possibly three} Feshbach resonance (doubly-excited anion) states, one of which leads to either C-H or O-H bond scission, while the other can only produce formyloxyl radicals by O-H bond scission. Comparison of experimental and theoretical angular distributions of the anion fragment allows the elucidation of state specific pathways to dissociation.

arXiv comment11 pages, 13 figures

References in corpus (1)

• Dissociative electron attachment to carbon dioxide via the ^2Π_u shape resonance

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Current-induced bond rupture in single-molecule junctions: Effects of multiple electronic states and vibrational modes
• Investigating resonant low-energy electron attachment to formamide: dynamics of model peptide bond dissociation and other fragmentation channels