Gas-phase chemistry of nitrogen trifluoride NF3: structure and stability of its M–NF3 (M=H, Li, Na, K) complexes

The stationary points characterizing the potential energy profiles of the complex processes of the M⁺(M=H, Li, Na, K) and NF₃ were investigated by QCISD and B3LYP in conjunction with the 6-311+G(2d,2p) basis set. The optimized geometries and NBO analysis indicate that the complexes of M⁺(M=Li, Na, K) and NF₃ exist as ion-dipole molecules. But for H⁺ complexes, there are two stable isomers NF₃H⁺ and NF₂⁺–HF. The interaction distances of isomers follow the sequence H⁺< Li⁺< Na⁺< K⁺. The calculated affinity energies of the most stable isomers of H⁺, Li⁺, Na⁺, and K⁺ complexes exceed 20.1 kJ/mol, and these values suggest that the M⁺–NF₃ (M=H, Li, Na, K) complexes could be observed as stable species in gas phase, which supports Fujii's proposal that Li⁺ ion attachment mass spectrometry can serve as a conceivable technique to quantify the emissions of the NF₃.