Relative partial cross sections for anions formed upon electron attachment to nitrotoluene

Free electron attachment to the three different isomers of mono-nitrotoluene molecules in the gas phase is studied using a crossed electron-molecule beams technique. For the molecule 2-nitrotoluene 77 products anions are measured. The ion yield of the different anions spans a range of more than six orders of magnitude. The total anion yield of the three different isomers of mono-nitrotoluene is compared and shows remarkable differences mainly resulting from the different contributions of the NO2− fragment anions. The anion efficiency curves show six resonances that we assign to different transient negative ions. Competition of decay reactions is forming a series of fragment anions from each isomeric transient negative anion.