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arXiv · 1912.01357

Complexes of gold and imidazole formed in helium nanodroplets

Michael Gatchell·Marcelo Goulart·Lorentz Kranabetter·Martin Kuhn·Paul Martini·Bilal Rasul·Paul Scheier
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Abstract

We have studied complexes of gold atoms and imidazole (C$_3$N$_2$H$_4$, abbreviated Im) produced in helium nanodroplets. Following the ionization of the doped droplets we detect a broad range of different Au$_m$Im$_n^+$ complexes, however we find that for specific values of $m$ certain $n$ are "magic" and thus particularly abundant. Our density functional theory calculations indicate that these abundant clusters sizes are partially the result of particularly stable complexes, e.g. AuIm$_2^+$, and partially due to a transition in fragmentation patterns from the loss of neutral imidazole molecules for large systems to the loss of neutral gold atoms for smaller systems.

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Michael Gatchell, Marcelo Goulart, Lorentz Kranabetter, Martin Kuhn, Paul Martini, Bilal Rasul, Paul Scheier. 2019-12-03. Complexes of gold and imidazole formed in helium nanodroplets. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8cp00486b

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