TY - JOUR AU - Johny, Melby AU - Schouder, Constant A. AU - Al-Refaie, Ahmed AU - He, Lanhai AU - Wiese, Joss AU - Stapelfeldt, Henrik AU - Trippel, Sebastian AU - Küpper, Jochen TI - Water is a radiation protection agent for ionised pyrrole JO - Physical chemistry, chemical physics VL - 26 IS - 17 SN - 1463-9076 CY - Cambridge PB - RSC Publ. M1 - PUBDB-2024-01291 M1 - arXiv:2010.00453 SP - 13118-13130 PY - 2024 AB - Radiation-induced damage of biological matter is an ubiquitous problem in nature. The influence of the hydration environment is widely discussed, but its exact role remains elusive. Utilising well defined solvated-molecule aggregates, we experimentally observed a hydrogen-bonded water molecule acting as a radiation protection agent for ionised pyrrole, a prototypical aromatic biomolecule. Pure samples of pyrrole and pyrrole(H<sub>2</sub>O) were outer-valence ionised and the subsequent damage and relaxation processes were studied. Bare pyrrole ions fragmented through the breaking of C−C or N−C covalent bonds. However, for pyrrole(H<sub>2</sub>O)<sup>+</sup>, we observed a strong protection of the pyrrole ring through the dissociative release of neutral water or by transferring an electron or proton across the hydrogen bond. Overall, a single water molecule strongly reduces the fragmentation probability and thus the persistent radiation damage of singly-ionised pyrrole. LB - PUB:(DE-HGF)16 C6 - 38629233 UR - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:001204249800001 DO - DOI:10.1039/D3CP03471B UR - https://bib-pubdb1.desy.de/record/605016 ER -