Speaker
Description
In this contribution, we have investigated the molecular mechanisms of microhydrated clusters of azolic radiosensitisers – nimorazole (NIMO) and 2-bromo-5-nitrothiazole (BNT) upon electron attachment. Experiments were performed in a recently constructed setup in our laboratory at the University of Innsbruck. The apparatus consists of a molecular aggregation source employing supersonic expansion technique, a Nier-type ion source incorporating an orthogonal time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Upon electron attachment, from isolated conditions in our previous studies [1-2] to microhydration, fragmentation of the aforementioned studied molecules is strongly suppressed due to the solvation environment. On the other hand, as a notable feature, when comparing the experimental results on electron attachment with microhydrated NIMO and BNT, we found different distribution of the hydrated cluster anions, suggesting different dynamics in these two microhydrated radiosensitiser systems after capturing an extra electron. The observations are theoretically supported by quantum chemical calculations.
[1]. Chen, J., Chakraborty, D., Ončák, M., Ptasinska, S. & Denifl, S. Low-energy electron driven reactions in 2-bromo-5-nitrothiazole. J. Chem. Phys. 162; 10.1063/5.0246241 (2025).
[2]. Meißner, R. et al. Low-energy electrons transform the nimorazole molecule into a radiosensitiser. Nat Commun 10, 2388; 10.1038/s41467-019-10340-8 (2019).