corner
corner
APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 90 » Issue 18
< Previous Article | Next Article >

Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 188104 (2003) [4 pages]

Electron Attachment to Uracil: Effective Destruction at Subexcitation Energies

Download: PDF (153 kB) Buy this article Export: BibTeX or EndNote (RIS)

G. Hanel, B. Gstir, S. Denifl, P. Scheier, M. Probst, B. Farizon*, M. Farizon*, E. Illenberger†, and T. D. Märk‡
Institut für Ionenphysik der Universität Innsbruck, Technikerstrasse 25, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria

Received 27 November 2002; published 8 May 2003

We demonstrate that electrons at energies below the threshold for electronic excitation (<3   eV) effectively decompose gas phase uracil generating a mobile hydrogen radical and the corresponding closed shell uracil fragment anion (U-H)-. The reaction is energetically driven by the large electron affinity of the (U-H) radical. This observation has significant consequences for the molecular picture of radiation damage, i.e., genotoxic effects or damage of living cells due to the secondary component of high energy radiation.

© 2003 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.188104
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.188104
PACS:
87.50.Gi

*Permanent address: Institut de Physique Nucléaire de Lyon, IN2P3-CNRS et Université Claude Bernard, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France.

†Permanent address: Institut für Chemie–Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie, Freie Universität Berlin, D-14195 Berlin, Germany.

‡Also adjunct Professor at Department of Plasmaphysics, Comenius University, SK-84248 Bratislava, Slovak Republic.

 
< Previous Article | Next Article >