Low-energy elastic electron scattering cross sections of acrylic acid and its methylated derivatives

Abstract

In the present work we report elastic cross sections for electron scattering from acrylic acid (CH2 = CH-COOH) and its methylated derivatives, crotonic acid (CH3-CH = CH-COOH), methacrylic acid (H2C = C(CH3)COOH) and methyl acrylate (CH2 = CHCOOCH3). The calculations were performed with the Schwinger multichannel method for impact energies up to 15 eV. Two π* shape resonances were found in the component of the integral cross sections (ICSs) for the A″ symmetry of all molecules. The resonance positions obtained for the acrylic acid are compared with existing experimental results for dissociative electron attachment. We investigated the influence of methylation through the comparison of the positions and widths of the shape resonances in the component of the ICS of the A″, and the oscillation patterns in the differential cross sections of all molecules. We also present the momentum transfer cross section for electron scattering from all molecules studied.