Doubly ionized 2,4-imidazolidinedione (Hydantoin) dissociations induced by electron collision, fragmentation thresholds vs vertical excitation energies

Abstract

The double ionisation/dissociation process for a prebiotic molecule (hydantoin) induced by [20-40 eV] electron collisions was studied using time-of-flight spectrometry and Velocity Map Imaging . Fragmentation into two molecular cations reveals that hydrogen transfer occurs in excited state and thresholds of the main dissociation channels are measured. Comparison with state of the art vertical excited states of hydantoin2+ gives an accurate idea of the excited states initially populated .