SIMBAD references

Fragments from organic molecule dissociation (such as reactive ions and radicals) can form interstellar complex molecules like amino acids. The goal of this work is to experimentally study photoionization and photodissociation processes of acetic acid (CH₃COOH), a glycine (NH₂CH₂COOH) precursor molecule, by soft X-ray photons. The measurements were taken at the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS), employing soft X-ray photons from a toroidal grating monochromator (TGM) beamline (100-310eV). Mass spectra were obtained using the photoelectron photoion coincidence (PEPICO) method. Kinetic energy distribution and abundances for each ionic fragment have been obtained from the analysis of the corresponding peak shapes in the mass spectra. Absolute photoionization and photodissociation cross sections were also determined. We have found, among the channels leading to ionization, that only 4-6% of CH₃COOH survive the strong ionization field. CH₃CO⁺, COOH⁺ and CH₃⁺ ions are the main fragments, and the presence of the former may indicate that the production-destruction process of acetic acid in hot molecular cores (HMCs) could decrease the H₂O abundance since the net result of this process converts H₂O into OH + H⁺. The COOH⁺ ion plays an important role in ion-molecule reactions to form large biomolecules like glycine.