PNNL

Abstract

The instability of the zwitterion structure of glycine is significantly reduced by the attachment of an excess electron and a local minimum develops on the anionic potential energy surface for the zwitterion structure. However, the global anionic minimum, that is lower by 9 kcal/mol, corresponds to a singly hydrogen-bonded non-zwitterion structure. The vertical electron detachment energies for these two dipole-bound zwitterion and non-zwitterion structures are 3175 and 668 cm$^{-1}$, respectively.