Photodetachment of Deprotonated R‐Mandelic Acid: The Role of Proton Delocalization on the Radical Stability

The photodetachment and stability of R-Mandelate, the deprotonated form of the R-Mandelic acid, was investigated by observing the neutral species issued from either simple photodetachment or dissociative photodetachment in a cold anions set-up. R-Mandalate has the possibility to form an intramolecular ionic hydrogen-bond between adjacent hydroxyl and carboxylate groups. The potential energy surface along the proton transfer (PT) coordinate between both groups (O