{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T20:16:12Z","timestamp":1760300172539,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,31]],"date-time":"2019-01-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1548892800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100006753","name":"U.S. Army Materiel Command","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["W911NF-18-1-0051"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["W911NF-18-1-0051"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100006753","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Molecules"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Organic phosphates and phosphonates are present in a number of cellular components that can be damaged by exposure to ionizing radiation. This work reports femtosecond time-resolved mass spectrometry (FTRMS) studies of three organic phosphonate radical cations that model the DNA sugar-phosphate backbone: dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP), diethyl methylphosphonate (DEMP), and diisopropyl methylphosphonate (DIMP). Upon ionization, each molecular radical cation exhibits unique oscillatory dynamics in its ion yields resulting from coherent vibrational excitation. DMMP has particularly well-resolved 45 fs (    732 \u00b1 28     cm      \u2212 1     ) oscillations with a weak feature at 610\u2013650 cm      \u2212 1     , while DIMP exhibits bimodal oscillations with a period of \u223c55 fs and two frequency features at     554 \u00b1 28     and 670\u2013720 cm      \u2212 1     . In contrast, the oscillations in DEMP decay too rapidly for effective resolution. The low- and high-frequency oscillations in DMMP and DIMP are assigned to coherent excitation of the symmetric O\u2013P\u2013O bend and P\u2013C stretch, respectively. The observation of the same ionization-induced coherently excited vibrations in related molecules suggests a possible common excitation pathway in ionized organophosphorus compounds of biological relevance, while the distinct oscillatory dynamics in each molecule points to the potential use of FTRMS to distinguish among fragment ions produced by related molecules.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules24030509","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,2,1]],"date-time":"2019-02-01T03:08:05Z","timestamp":1548990485000},"page":"509","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Probing Coherent Vibrations of Organic Phosphonate Radical Cations with Femtosecond Time-Resolved Mass Spectrometry"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"24","author":[{"given":"Derrick","family":"Ampadu Boateng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mi\u2019Kayla D.","family":"Word","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8853-5656","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Katharine Moore","family":"Tibbetts","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,1,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"60","DOI":"10.1016\/j.radphyschem.2016.04.022","article-title":"Gamma and ion-beam irradiation of DNA: Free radical mechanisms, electron effects, and radiation chemical track structure","volume":"128","author":"Sevilla","year":"2016","journal-title":"Radiat. 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