Abstract
We have studied the fragmentation of gas phase thymidine following valence and core ionization using synchrotron radiation, combined with electron energy and ion mass resolved detection in coincidence. To identify certain fragment masses 13C labelled thymidine was also used. We find that in large part, the photofragmentation of thymidine can be described as separated thymine and 2-deoxy-d-ribose cations. However, also the intact thymidine radical cation, formation of intact base and sugar cations from glycosidic bond cleavage and several new thymidine-specific fragments are observed after valence ionization. Conversely, at the photoionization of C 1s electrons neither parent thymidine cations nor any fragments above 55 amu were detected, and only ion pairs with small masses survive core ionization, Auger decay and the subsequent Coulomb separation of the DNA sub-unit. This demonstrates the genotoxic nature of soft x-rays which in cells induce complex clustered damage similar to those yielded by heavy particles.
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