Electron Attachment to Triazoles and Their Complexes

Triazole is a common product of click chemistry. Consequently, triazoles are the usual motive in many commercially produced chemicals. We will study the attachment of low-energy electrons to different derivatives of 1,2,3-/1,2,4-triazoles to elucidate its dependence on the functional groups and the isomeric configuration. A well-energy-defined electron beam will interact with isolated molecules in the Innsbruck experiment or clusters in the Prague experiment, leading to the formation of anions that will be analyzed using mass spectrometry. This way, the influence of water and pi-stacking on the electron attachment (EA) will be explored. Measurements will be accompanied by quantum chemical calculations providing reaction thermodynamics and kinetics for the different molecular environments. EA enable “retro-click” chemistry via ringopening isomerization or fragmentation reactions. The gained basic knowledge can also find its way into future applications, such as the removal of triazole pollutants from wastewater or the design of novel targeted drug delivery systems.