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Updated: Apr 28, 2026

Cryo-Structured Illumination Microscopic Data Collection from Cryogenically Preserved Cells
Published on: May 28, 2021
Photochemistry of glycolaldehyde in cryogenic matrices
W Chin1, M Chevalier1, R Thon1
1Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d'Orsay, CNRS UMR 8214, Université Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay, France.
Abstract:
The photochemistry of glycolaldehyde (GA) upon irradiation at 266 nm is investigated in argon, nitrogen, neon, and para-hydrogen matrices by IR spectroscopy. Isomerization and fragmentation processes are found to compete. The hydrogen-bonded Cis-Cis form of GA is transformed mainly to the open Trans-Trans conformer and to CO and CH3OH fragments and their mixed complexes. Different photo-induced behaviours appear depending on the matrix. In nitrogen, small amounts of Trans-Gauche and Trans-Trans conformers are detected after deposition and grow together upon irradiation. The Trans-Gauche conformer is characterized for the first time. In para-hydrogen due to a weaker cage effect additional H2CO and HCO fragments are seen. Calculations of the potential energy surfaces of S0, S1, and T1 states--to analyse the torsional deformations which are involved in the isomerization process--and a kinetic analysis are presented to investigate the different relaxation pathways of GA. Fragmentation of GA under UV irradiation through the CO+CH3OH molecular channel is a minor process, as in the gas phase.
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