Preparation of tautomer-pure molecular beams by electrostatic deflection

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Abma, Grite L., Parkes, Michael A., Horke, Daniel A.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Abma, Grite L.
Parkes, Michael A.
Horke, Daniel A.
author_facet Abma, Grite L.
Parkes, Michael A.
Horke, Daniel A.
contents Tautomers are ubiquitous throughout chemistry, and typically considered inseparable in solution. Yet (bio)chemical activity is highly tautomer specific, with common examples being the amino and nucleic acids. While tautomers exist in an equilibrium in solution, in the cold environment of a molecular beam the barrier to tautomerization is typically much too high for interconversion, and tautomers can be considered separate species. Here we demonstrate the separation of tautomers and production of tautomerically-pure gas-phase samples. We show this for the 2-pyridone / 2-hydroxypyridine system, an important structural motif in both uracil and cytosine. Spatial separation of the tautomers is achieved via electrostatic deflection in strong inhomogeneous fields. We furthermore collect tautomer-resolved photoelectron spectra using femtosecond multiphoton ionization. This paves the way for studying the structure-function-dynamic relationship on the level of individual tautomers, using approaches that typically lack the resolution to do so, such as ultrafast dynamics experiments.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2403_16617
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Preparation of tautomer-pure molecular beams by electrostatic deflection
Abma, Grite L.
Parkes, Michael A.
Horke, Daniel A.
Chemical Physics
Tautomers are ubiquitous throughout chemistry, and typically considered inseparable in solution. Yet (bio)chemical activity is highly tautomer specific, with common examples being the amino and nucleic acids. While tautomers exist in an equilibrium in solution, in the cold environment of a molecular beam the barrier to tautomerization is typically much too high for interconversion, and tautomers can be considered separate species. Here we demonstrate the separation of tautomers and production of tautomerically-pure gas-phase samples. We show this for the 2-pyridone / 2-hydroxypyridine system, an important structural motif in both uracil and cytosine. Spatial separation of the tautomers is achieved via electrostatic deflection in strong inhomogeneous fields. We furthermore collect tautomer-resolved photoelectron spectra using femtosecond multiphoton ionization. This paves the way for studying the structure-function-dynamic relationship on the level of individual tautomers, using approaches that typically lack the resolution to do so, such as ultrafast dynamics experiments.
title Preparation of tautomer-pure molecular beams by electrostatic deflection
topic Chemical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.16617