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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Molecular Beam Mass Spectrometry With Tunable Vacuum Ultraviolet (VUV) Synchrotron Radiation
Published on: October 30, 2012
Electron attachment to uracil: effective destruction at subexcitation energies
1Institut für Ionenphysik der Universität Innsbruck, Technikerstrasse 25, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
Abstract:
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.
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