Eur. Phys. J. D (2015) 69: 21
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2014-50551-2

Regular Article

Electron-impact-induced tryptophan molecule fragmentation^*

¹ Vilnius University, Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy, 12 A. Goštauto str., 01108 Vilnius, Lithuania
² Institute of Electron Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 21 Universitetska str., 88017 Uzhgorod, Ukraine

^a e-mail: Jelena.Tamuliene@tfai.vu.lt

Received: 25 July 2014
Received in final form: 6 October 2014
Published online: 16 January 2015

Abstract

The fragmentation of a gas-phase tryptophan molecule by a low-energy (<70 eV) electron impact was studied both experimentally and theoretically. Various positively charged fragments were observed and analyzed. A special attention was paid to the energy characteristics of the ionic fragment yield. The geometrical parameters of the initial molecule rearrangement were also analyzed. The fragmentation observed was due to either a simple bond cleavage or more complex reactions involving molecular rearrangements.