Gas‐phase reactions of XH3+ (X = C,Si, Ge) with NF3: a comparative investigation on the detailed mechanistic aspects

The gas‐phase reaction of CH₃⁺ with NF₃ was investigated by ion trap mass spectrometry (ITMS). The observed products include NF₂⁺ and CH₂F⁺. Under the same experimental conditions, SiH₃⁺ reacts with NF₃ and forms up to six ionic products, namely (in order of decreasing efficiency) NF₂⁺, SiH₂F⁺, SiHF₂⁺, SiF⁺, SiHF⁺, and NHF⁺. The GeH₃⁺ cation is instead totally unreactive toward NF₃. The different reactivity of XH₃⁺ (X = C, Si, Ge) toward NF₃ has been rationalized by ab initio calculations performed at the MP2 and coupled cluster level of theory. In the reaction of both CH₃⁺ and SiH₃⁺, the kinetically relevant intermediate is the fluorine‐coordinated isomer H₃X‐F‐NF₂⁺ (X = C, Si). This species forms from the exoergic attack of XH₃⁺ to one of the F atoms of NF₃ and undergoes dissociation and isomerization processes which eventually result in the experimentally observed products. The nitrogen‐coordinated isomers H₃X‐NF₃⁺ (X = C, Si) were located as minimum‐energy structures but do not play an active role in the reaction mechanism. The inertness of GeH₃⁺ toward NF₃ is also explained by the endoergic character of the dissociation processes involving the H₃Ge‐F‐NF₂⁺ isomer. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.