The intrinsic optical properties and photochemistry of flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) dianions are investigated using a combination of tandem ion mobility spectrometry and action spectroscopy. Two principal isomers are observed, the more stable form being deprotonated on the isoalloxazine group and a phosphate (N-3,PO4 deprotomer), and the other on the two phosphates (PO4,PO4 deprotomer). Ion mobility data and electronic action spectra suggest that photo-induced proton transfer occurs from the isoalloxazine group to a phosphate group, converting the PO4,PO4 deprotomer to the N-3,PO4 deprotomer. Comparisons of the isomer selective action spectra of FAD dianions and flavin monoanions with solution spectra and gas-phase photodissociation action spectra suggests that solvation shifts the electronic absorption of the deprotonated isoalloxazine group to higher energy. This is interpreted as evidence for significant charge transfer in the lowest optical transition of deprotonated isoalloxazine. Overall, this work demonstrates that the site of deprotonation of flavin anions strongly affects their electronic absorptions and photochemistry.

We report the absorption profile of isolated Flavin Adenine Dinucleotide (FAD) mono-anions recorded using photo-induced dissociation action spectroscopy. In this charge state, one of the phosphoric acid groups is deprotonated and the chromophore itself is in its neutral oxidized state. These measurements cover the first four optical transitions of FAD with excitation energies from 2.3 to 6.0 eV (210-550 nm). The S-0 -> S-2 transition is strongly blue shifted relative to aqueous solution, supporting the view that this transition has a significant charge-transfer character. The remaining bands are close to their solution-phase positions. This confirms that the large discrepancy between quantum chemical calculations of vertical transition energies and solution-phase band maxima cannot be explained by solvent effects. We also report the luminescence spectrum of FAD mono-anions in vacuo. The gas-phase Stokes shift for S-1 is 3000 cm(-1), which is considerably larger than any previously reported for other molecular ions and consistent with a significant displacement of the ground and excited state potential energy surfaces. Consideration of the vibronic structure is thus essential for simulating the absorption and luminescence spectra of flavins.

In this paper, we give a detailed description of an electrospray ion source test bench and a single-pass setup for ion fragmentation studies at the Double ElectroStatic Ion Ring ExpEriment infrastructure at Stockholm University. This arrangement allows for collision-induced dissociation experiments at the center-of-mass energies between 10 eV and 1 keV. Charged fragments are analyzed with respect to their kinetic energies (masses) by means of an electrostatic energy analyzer with a wide angular acceptance and adjustable energy resolution.

We have studied collisions between tetraphenylporphyrin cations and He or Ne at center-of-mass energies in the range 50-110 eV. The experimental results were interpreted in view of density functional theory calculations of dissociation energies and classical molecular dynamics simulations of how the molecules respond to the He/Ne impact. We demonstrate that prompt atom knockout strongly contributes to the total destruction cross sections. Such impulse driven processes typically yield highly reactive fragments and are expected to be important for collisions with any molecular system in this collision energy range, but have earlier been very difficult to isolate for biomolecules.

An ongoing discussion revolves around the question of what effect hydrogenation has oncarbon backbone fragmentation in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). In order to shedmore light on this issue, we have measured absolute single carbon loss cross sections incollisions between native or hydrogenated pyrene cations (C16H+ 10+m , m = 0, 6, 16) and He as functions of center-of-massenergies down to 20 eV. Classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations give further insightinto energy transfer processes and also yield m-dependent threshold energies for prompt(femtoseconds) carbon knockout. Such fast, non-statistical fragmentation processesdominate CH x -loss for native pyrene (m = 0), while much slowerstatistical fragmentation processes contribute significantly to single-carbon loss for thehydrogenated molecules (m =6 and m =16). The latter is shown by measurements of large CH x -loss crosssections far below the MD knockout thresholds for C16H+ 16 and C16H+ 26.

We have measured absolute cross sections for ultrafast (femtosecond) single-carbon knockout from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAR) cations as functions of He-PAR center-of-mass collision energy in the 10-200 eV range. Classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations cover this range and extend up to 105 eV. The shapes of the knockout cross sections are well-described by a simple analytical expression yielding experimental and MD threshold energies of E-th(Exp) = 32.5 +/- 0.4 eV and E-th(MD) = 41.0 +/- 0.3 eV, respectively. These are the first measurements of knockout threshold energies for molecules isolated in vacuo. We further deduce semiempirical (SE) and MD displacement energies, i.e., the energy transfers to the PAH molecules at the threshold energies for knockout, of T-disp(SE) = 23.3 +/- 0.3 eV and T-disp(MD) = 27.0 +/- 0.3 eV. The semiempirical results compare favorably with measured displacement energies for graphene (T-disp = 23.6 eV).

A recent study of soft x-ray absorption in native and hydrogenated coronene cations, C24H12+m + m = 0-7, led to the conclusion that additional hydrogen atoms protect (interstellar) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules from fragmentation [Reitsma et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 053002 (2014)]. The present experiment with collisions between fast (30-200 eV) He atoms and pyrene (C16H10+m +, m = 0, 6, and 16) and simulations without reference to the excitation method suggests the opposite. We find that the absolute carbon-backbone fragmentation cross section does not decrease but increases with the degree of hydrogenation for pyrene molecules.