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Electron detachment dissociation (EDD) and electron photodetachment dissociation (EPD) are two novel fragmentation methods yielding radicals from negatively charged ions. With the goal of comparing EDD, EPD and the more traditional collision-induced dissociation (CID) and infrared multiphoton dissociation (IRMPD) fragmentation processes in oligonucleotides, we studied here the EDD fragmentation pathways of oligonucleotides of varying length. We chose polythymine oligonucleotides because these are the least prone to secondary structure formation, and found complete sequence coverage by EDD for up to dT 20 . We also found that the fragmentation pathways change with oligonucleotide length: electron detachment is a mandatory step in the fragmentation of larger sequences, while shorter oligonucleotides can also fragment via direct electronic or vibrational excitation by the electrons. This is supported by (1) the fact that continuous ejection of the charge-reduced species does not totally prevent fragmentation of short oligonucleotides dT 5 and dT 6 , (2) the fact that CID and EDD fragments are more similar for small oligonucleotides (although double resonance experiments show that they are not all issued from the same mechanisms), and (3) the fact that electron-induced dissociation (EID) of singly charged dT 3 and dT 4 gives similar fragments as EDD of doubly charged dT 5 and dT 6 . Finally, the detachment efficiency as a function of the nature of the nucleobase was studied. The effect of base on electron detachment in EDD (G > T > A > C) is different than in EPD (G > A > C > T), indicating different electron loss mechanisms.

DNA multiply charged anions stored in a quadrupole ion trap undergo one-photon electron ejection (oxidation) when subjected to laser irradiation at 260 nm (4.77 eV). Electron photodetachment is likely a fast process, given that photodetachment is able to compete with internal conversion or radiative relaxation to the ground state. The DNA [6-mer]3- ions studied here show a marked sequence dependence of electron photodetachment yield. Remarkably, the photodetachment yield (dG6 > dA6 > dC6 > dT6) is inversely correlated with the base ionization potentials (G < A < C < T). Sequences with guanine runs show increased photodetachment yield as the number of guanine increases, in line with the fact that positive holes are the most stable in guanine runs. This correlation between photodetachment yield and the stability of the base radical may be explained by tunneling of the electron through the repulsive Coulomb barrier. Theoretical calculations on dinucleotide monophosphates show that the HOMO and HOMO-1 orbitals are localized on the bases. The wavelength dependence of electron detachment yield was studied for dG63-. Maximum electron photodetachment is observed in the wavelength range corresponding to base absorption (260-270 nm). This demonstrates the feasibility of gas-phase UV spectroscopy on large DNA anions. The calculations and the wavelength dependence suggest that the electron photodetachment is initiated at the bases and not at the phosphates. This also indicates that, although direct photodetachment could also occur, autodetachment from excited states, presumably corresponding to base excitation, is the dominant process at 260 nm. Excited-state dynamics of large DNA strands still remains largely unexplored, and photo-oxidation studies on trapped DNA multiply charged anions can help in bridging the gap between gas-phase studies on isolated bases or base pairs and solution-phase studies on full DNA strands.