Internal energy distribution of benzene molecular ions in surface‐induced dissociation

The so‐called ‘deconvolution’ method has been used to determine the internal energy distribution of molecular ions of an organic compound, benzene, excited by collisions with self‐assembled monolayer surfaces formed on gold. The average internal energy was found to increase linearly with the laboratory collision energy. The kinetic energy–internal energy (T–V) conversion was 17% for the octadecanethiolate monolayer and 28% for the 2‐(perfluorooctyl)‐ethanethiolate monolayer surface. The results are similar to those obtained for metal carbonyl projectiles, though they indicate somewhat higher energy conversion. In addition, excitation of the projectile ion well beyond 20 eV internal energy is observed.