HCl-induced ionization and fragmentation of fullerenes and organic molecules

The interaction of multiply charged ions with fullerenes is governed by ele ctron capture as well as nuclear and electronic stopping, The fullerene exc itation due to electronic stopping leads mainly to direct ionization and mu ltifragmentation. Our experiments show that the according patterns in the f ragmentation spectra can serve as fingerprints for the electronic stopping. A quantitative analysis of the cross sections for ionization and multifrag mentation reveals the characteristic linearity in the projectile velocity v as well as an oscillatory dependence on the projectile atomic number Z. Th e pi -electron dominated electronic structure of fullerenes has some simila rities to that of biomolecular species. Qualitatively similar dynamics are therefore expected to occur in HCI collisions with biomolecules. First expe rimental results indeed indicate a strong dependence of the fragmentation p attern on projectile charge state and velocity.