Dissociation of charge selected biomolecules induced by electronic capture processes in collisions with positive ions

We present results on the fragmentation of singly and doubly charged adenine induced by electronic capture processes in collisions with 6 keV F2+ projectile ions. The results are compared to our previous study at 36 keV collision energy. In these experiments, the initial charge of adenine before fragmentation is determined using a highly selective technique based on triple coincidence measurements between the charge of the outgoing projectile, the time-of-flight of the recoil ions and the number of ejected electrons. For both singly and doubly charged adenine the comparison of the mass spectra at the two energies shows differences in the fragmentation pathways. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.