Dissociative multi-photon ionization of isolated uracil and uracil-adenine complexes

Abstract Recent multi-photon ionization (MPI) experiments on uracil revealed a fragment ion at m/z 84 that was proposed as a potential marker for ring opening in the electronically excited neutral molecule. The present MPI measurements on deuterated uracil identify the fragment as C 3 H 4 N 2 O + (uracil + less CO), a plausible dissociative ionization product from the theoretically predicted open-ring isomer. Equivalent measurements on thymine do not reveal an analogous CO loss channel, suggesting greater stability of the excited DNA base. MPI and electron impact ionization experiments have been carried out on uracil-adenine clusters in order to better understand the radiation response of uracil within RNA. Evidence for C 3 H 4 N 2 O + production from multi-photon-ionized uracil-adenine clusters is tentatively attributed to a significant population of π-stacked configurations in the neutral beam.