Ionization and dissociation of the formic acid molecule by protons and electrons

Abstract

Ionization and dissociation of the formic acid molecule (HCOOH) by energetic charged particles have been studied for 1 keV electrons and nearly equivelocity 2 MeV protons. Whereas the fragmentation pattern induced by impact of electron and proton show close similarities, some distinctions in the fragmentation yields were observed for these equivelocity projectiles.

Formic Acid Ionization and Fragmentation by Multiphoton Absorption

“…Most of the experimental studies had been performed by laser photolysis to produce vibrational excited products. However, there are several experiments on ionization and dissociation using different projectiles, as electrons, protons or photons [15][16][17][18][19][20][21].…”

“…Most of the ionic species have been observed in experiments of formic acid destruction by soft X rays [21,22] inner shell excitation [23] ultraviolet region [10] or the interaction with protons or electrons [19,28]. In this work, we analyze the mass spectra of the ions obtained as a result of the interaction between formic acid and laser radiation with different intensities of 532 nm radiation, contrasting them with some of the available theoretical and computational results.…”

Electron impact total cross sections for simple biomolecules (HCOOH and H2CO) over a wide energy range (meV to keV)

“…Electron impact total cross sections for simple biomolecules (HCOOH and H 2 CO) over a wide energy range (meV to keV) Formic acid is the simplest organic acid and has gained special attention due to its presence in astronomical sources such as protostellar ices, condritic meteorites and dark molecular clouds and comets [1]. Hence, it is thought to play a key role in the formation of bigger biomolecules.…”