Electron Bombardment of Amorphous Thione Ices—Thioacetamide as a Case Study

Amorphous thioacetamide (TA) ice was deposited at 10 K and was bombarded with 5 keV electrons. TA ices were shown to decompose into acetonitrile (ACN, H3C–C≡N), cyanide anion ([CN]−), and ketenimine (H2C=C=NH). The experiments were repeated with TA ices mixed with H2O, to assess the effect of an oxygen source. In this case, the formation of cyanate anion ([OCN]−) was also observed besides those seen in the pure TA ice experiment. This study is the first that aims to reveal the decomposition pathways of a thioamide upon energetic irradiation in the low-temperature ice phase.