Eur. Phys. J. D (2014) 68: 149
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2014-40819-x

Regular Article

Stability of the glycine cation in the gas phase after interaction with multiply charged ions^*

¹ CIMAP, UMR 6252-CEA/CNRS/ENSICAEN/UCBN, Boulevard Henri Becquerel, BP 5133, 14070 Caen Cedex 5, France
² Université de Caen Basse-Normandie, Esplanade de la Paix, CS 14032, 14032 Caen Cedex 5, France
³ Departamento de Química, Módulo 13, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
⁴ Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencias (IMDEA-Nanociencia), Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain

^a e-mail: maclot@ganil.fr

Received: 20 December 2013
Received in final form: 7 March 2014
Published online: 23 June 2014

Abstract

This study presents a coupled experimental and theoretical work on the stability of singly charged glycine molecules (NH₂CH₂COOH⁺, the simplest amino acid) produced in the collision of neutral glycine with low-energy multiply charged ions in the gas phase. The main fragments observed experimentally result from C_α-C_carboxyl bond cleavage. Additionally, some fragments are produced after an intramolecular rearrangement of the glycine cation, in particular the loss of a neutral water molecule following a H-migration. Moreover, this work discusses qualitatively the energy transferred to the molecule in the collision with a comparative study of the fragmentation patterns for different projectile ion charge states.