Verification of NEXAFS assignments by a comparison of fragmentation between gaseous and condensed methyl formate

According to the ion desorption from condensed methyl formate (DCOOCH3) by C 1s electron excitation, C⁺ yield was strongly enhanced at 289.1 eV, a higher energy side of C1s(DC) ⇒ π*(C=O) peak. This feature could not be clearly assigned. In this work, to clarify the feature, fragment-ion yield curves of gas-phase methyl formate were measured and compared with those of condensed one, since gas-phase and condensed systems are presumed to show more or less similar fragment-ion yield curves under similar excitations. The results demonstrate that fragment-ion yield curves are useful for the assignments of NEXAFS features in both gaseous and condensed polyatomic molecules.