Tunable wavelength soft photoionization of ionic liquid vapors.

Combined data of photoelectron spectra and photoionization efficiency curves in the near threshold ionization region of isolated ion pairs from [emim][Tf(2)N], [emim][Pf(2)N], and [dmpim][Tf(2)N] ionic liquid vapors reveal small shifts in the ionization energies of ion-pair systems due to cation and anion substitutions. Shifts toward higher binding energy following anion substitution are attributed to increased electronegativity of the anion itself, whereas shifts toward lower binding energies following cation substitution are attributed to an increase in the cation-anion distance that causes a lower Coulombic binding potential. The predominant ionization mechanism in the near threshold photon energy region is identified as dissociative ionization, involving the dissociation of the ion pair and the production of intact cations as the positively charged products.

Experimental observation of guanine tautomers with VUV photoionization.

Two methods of preparing guanine in the gas phase, thermal vaporization and laser desorption, have been investigated. The guanine generated by each method is entrained in a molecular beam, single-photon ionized with tunable VUV synchrotron radiation, and analyzed using reflectron mass spectrometry. The recorded photoionization efficiency (PIE) curves show a dramatic difference for experiments performed via thermal vaporization compared to that with laser desorption.

Direct determination of the ionization energies of PtC, PtO, and PtO2 with VUV radiation.

Photoionization efficiency curves were measured for gas-phase PtC, PtO, and PtO2 using tunable vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) radiation at the Advanced Light Source. The molecules were prepared by laser ablation of a platinum tube, followed by reaction with CH4 or N2O and supersonic expansion. These measurements provide the first directly measured ionization energy for PtC, IE(PtC) = 9.

Vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization of small methanol and methanol-water clusters.

In this work, we report on the vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization of small methanol and methanol-water clusters. Clusters of methanol with water are generated via co-expansion of the gas phase constituents in a continuous supersonic jet expansion of methanol and water seeded in Ar. The resulting clusters are investigated by single photon ionization with tunable vacuum-ultraviolet synchrotron radiation and mass analyzed using reflectron mass spectrometry.

Vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization of small water clusters.

Tunable vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization studies of water clusters are performed using 10-14 eV synchrotron radiation and analyzed by reflectron time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry. Photoionization efficiency (PIE) curves for protonated water clusters (H2O)(n)H+ are measured with 50 meV energy resolution. The appearance energies of a series of protonated water clusters are determined from the photoionization threshold for clusters composed of up to 79 molecules.