Electron capture by pentafluoronitrobenzene and pentafluorobenzonitrile.

Electron attachment to pentafluorobenzonitrile (C(6)F(5)CN) and pentafluoronitrobenzene (C(6)F(5)NO(2)) is studied in the energy range 0-16 eV by means of a crossed electron-molecular beam experiment with mass spectrometric detection of the anions. We find that pentafluoronitrobenzene exclusively generates fragment anions via dissociative electron attachment (DEA), while pentafluorobenzonitrile forms a long lived parent anion within a narrow energy range close to 0 eV and additionally undergoes DEA at higher energies. This is in contrast to the behaviour of the non-fluorinated analogues as in nitrobenzene the non-decomposed anion is formed while in benzonitrile only DEA is observed. The associated reactions involve simple bond cleavages but also complex unimolecular decompositions associated with structural and electronic rearrangement also resulting in the deterioration of the cyclic structure.