Comparison of collisional activation spectra of some positive ions produced both by charge reversal of negative ions and by decomposition of positive ions

The charge reversal collision induced decomposition mass analyzed ion kinetic energy spectrum of allyl anion has been compared with the collision induced dissociation mass analyzed ion kinetic energy spectrum of allyl cation and found to be identical except for the presence of +2 ions formed by charge stripping in the spectrum of the [C₃H₅]⁺ ion. Likewise, the collision induced dissociation mass analyzed ion kinetic energy charge reversal spectrum of [CH₃Se]^? has been compared with the collision induced dissociation mass analyzed ion kinetic energy spectrum of [CH₃Se]⁺ and found to be identical. A study of the pressure dependence of the collision induced dissociation mass analyzed ion kinetic energy spectrum of [C₃H₅]⁺ and [C₃H₅]^? showed increasing fragmentation with increasing collision gas pressure, and suggests that a greater mean number of collisions converts more energy to internal modes in the collision induced dissociation mass analyzed ion kinetic energy experiment even at low pressures.     

Fingerprinting stereoisomers by survivor-ion mass spectrometry

Survivor-ion mass spectrometry is used to distinguish stereoisomeric cis- and trans-4-methylcyclohexanol. The method involves producing ions by electron impact ionization and submitting them without mass selection to collisional neutralization and reionization, followed by selective monitoring of non-dissociating ions. The differences in the electron impact mass spectra of the stereoisomers, due to the different fragment ion elemental compositions and structures, are highlighted by collisional neutralization with Xe, NO and CH₃SSCH₃, followed by reionization with oxygen. The differences in the survivor-ion spectra are due to different neutralization efficiencies of the isobaric and isomeric ions produced by electron impact ionization, different stabilities of the intermediate neutral species, different reionization efficiencies and reionized ion stabilities. Neutralization-reionization spectra of the C₇H₁₂^+., C₆H₉⁺, C₃H₆O^+. and C₃H₅O⁺ ions from stereoisomeric 4-methylcyclohexanols are also reported.     

Gas-phase fragmentation reactions of protonated glycerol and its oligomers: Metastable and collision-induced dissociation reactions,associated deuterium isotope effects and the structure of [C3H5O]+, [C2H5O]+, [C2H4O]+. and [C2H3O]+ ions

The chemistry of glycerol subjected to a high-energy particle beam was explored by studying the mass spectral fragmentation characteristics of gas-phase protonated glycerol and its oligomers by using tandem mass spectrometry. Both unimolecular metastable and collision-induced dissociation reactions were studied. Collision activation of protonated glycerol results in elimiation of H₂O and CH₃OH molecules. The resulting ions undergo further fragmentations. The origin of several fragment ions was established by obtaining their product and precursor ion spectra. Corresponding data for the deuterated analogs support those results. The structures of the fragment ions of compositions [C₃H₅O]⁺, [C₂H₅O]⁺, [C₂H₄O]^+. and [C₂H₃O]⁺ derived from protonated glycerol were also identified. Proton-bound glycerol oligomers fragment principally via loss of neutral glycerol molecules. Dissociation of mixed clusters of glycerol and deuterated glycerol displays normal secondary isotope effects.     

Mass spectra of organometallic compounds: XIV—Some monometallic olefing manganese tricarbonyl derivatives

The metastable ion supported fragmentation process in the mass spectra of the cyclohexadienyl derivative C₆H₇Mn(CO)₃, the cycloheptadienyl derivative C₇H₉Mn(CO)₃, the 1,2,3,4,5-and 1,2,3,5,6-pentahaptocyclootadienyl derivatives C₈H₁₁Mn(CO)₃, the cyclooctatrienyl derivative C₈H₉Mn(CO)₃ and the substituted cyclopentadienyl derivative (CH₃)₂NCH₂C₅H₄Mn(CO)₃, are described. Losses of carbonyl groups, generally stepwise, from the molecular ions to give the corresponding [M – 3CO]⁺· ions are first observed. Further fragmentation of the carbonyl-free [M – 3CO]⁺· ions can involve a variety of processes such as the following: (a) elimination of a neutral manganese atom to give a hydrocarbon fragment; (b) elimination of a neutral hydrocarbon fragment to give an [MnH]⁺· ion; (c) dehydrogenation; (d) elimination of a 2-carbon C₂H₂ or C₂H₄ fragment; (e) elimination of a C₃H₄ or C₃H₆ fragment as a neutral species when it is bridging two carbon atoms bonded to manganese, as in C₈H₉Mn(CO)₃ and 1,2,3,4,5,h⁵-C₈H₁₁Mn(CO)₃, respectively. Fragmentation of the [M – 3CO]⁺· ion in (CH₃)₂NCH₂C₅H₄Mn(CO)₃ presents the following additional features: (a) elimination of C₆H₆ with a nitrogen shift from carbon to manganese; (b) elimination of a neutral dimethylamino fragment to give [C₆H₆Mn]⁺·, which then loses neutral C₆H₆, C₆H₅ or Mn fragments and thus is formulated tentatively as [(fulvene)Mn]⁺· or [C₆H₅MnH]⁺· rather than [(benzene)Mn]⁺·.     

An energy-resolved study of the fragmentation of ionized 1-Penten-3-ol

A detailed energy-resolved study of the fragmentation of CH₂?CHCH(OH)CD₂CD₃ (1-d₅) has been carried out using metastable ion studies and charge exchange techniques, combined with collision-induced dissociation studies to establish the structures of fragment ions. At low internal energies (metastable ions) the molecular ion of 1-d₅ rearranges to the 3-pentanone structure and fragments by loss of C₂H₅ or C₂D₅ leading to the acyl structure, [CH₃CH₂C?O]⁺ or [CD₃CD₂C?O]⁺, for the fragment ion. However, with increasing internal energy of the molecular ion this rearrangement process decreases rapidly in importance and loss of C₂D₅ by direct cleavage, leading to [CH₂?CHCH?OH]⁺, becomes the dominant fragmentation reaction. As a result the [C₃H₅O]⁺ ion seen in the electron impact mass spectrum of 1-penten-3-ol has predominantly the protonated acrolein structure.     

Experiments and Calculations on Photoionization and Dissociative Photoionization of CH2CO

The dissociative photoionization of molecular‐beam cooled CH₂CO in a region of ?10–20 eV was investigated with photoionization mass spectrometry using a synchrotron radiation as the light source. Photoionization efficiency curves of CH₂CO⁺ and of observed fragment ions CH₂⁺, CHCO⁺, HCO⁺, C₂O⁺, CO⁺, and C₂H₂⁺ were measured to determine their appearance energies. Relative branching ratios as a function of photon energy were determined. Energies for formation of these observed fragment ions and their neutral counterparts upon ionization of CH₂CO are computed with the Gaussian‐3 method. Dissociative photoionization channels associated with six observed fragment ions are proposed based on comparison of determined appearance energies and predicted energies. The principal dissociative processes are direct breaking of C=C and C‐H bonds to form CH₂⁺ + CO and CHCO⁺ + H, respectively; at greater energies, dissociation involving H migration takes place.     

Deposition of Diamondlike Carbon Film and Mass Spectrometry Measurement in CH4/N2 RF Plasma

The deposition of diamondlike carbon (DLC) film and the measurements of ionic species by means of mass spectrometry were carried out in a CH₄/N₂ RF (13.56 MHz) plasma at 0.1 Torr. The film deposition rate greatly depended on both CH₄/N₂ composition ratio and RF power input. It was decreased monotonically as CH₄ content decreased in the plasma and then rapidly diminished to negligible amounts at a critical CH₄ content, which became large for higher RF power. The rate increased with increasing RF power, reaching a maximum value in 40% CH₄ plasma. The predominant ionic products in CH₄/N₂ plasma were NH⁺ ₄ and CH₄N⁺ ions, which were produced by reactions of hydrocarbon ions, such as CH⁺ ₃, CH⁺ ₂, CH⁺ ₅, and C₂H⁺ ₅ with NH₃ molecules in the plasma. It was speculated that the production of NH⁺ ₄ ion induced the decrease of C₂H⁺ ₅ ion density in the plasma, which caused a reduction in higher hydrocarbon ions densities and, accordingly, in film deposition rate. The N⁺ ₂ ion sputtering also plays a major role in a reduction of film deposition rate for relatively large RF powers. The incorporation of nitrogen atoms into the bonding network of the DLC film deposited was greatly suppressed at present gas pressure conditions.     

Chemical Ionization—A Mass-Spectrometric Analytical Procedure of Rapidly Increasing Importance

The mode of ionization of a molecule has a strong influence on its behavior in the mass spectrometer and thus on the information that can be obtained from its mass spectrum. In chemical ionization a reagent gas, e.g. methane, is first ionized by electron impact. The ions formed in ion-molecule reactions, in particular [CH₅]⁺, [C₂H₅]⁺, and [C₃H₅]⁺, then react “chemically” with the substrate M in fast acid/base type reactions to form ions of the type [MH]⁺, [M(C₂H₅)]⁺, etc., which subsequently fragment to various extents. Alternatively, chemical ionization can be effected by charge exchange, in that ions of a reagent gas, e.g. [He]^+?, react with the substrate M to form molecular ions [M]^+·. Chemical ionization can thus be conducted in a more or less mild fashion and the extent of the fragmentation can be controlled over a very wide range.     

Collisionally induced dissociative ionization of neutral products from ion fragmentations. 2—Collision gas effects and related phenomena

The ion retardation method (whereby an ion beam is prevented from entering a collision gas cell by means of a voltage applied thereto) for permitting the examination of the neutral products of unimolecular ion fragmentations has been extended to include observations of neutral products generated by collisions before the gas cell and their related phenomenology. Observations obtained using an ion beam deflection electrode, an alternative method of preventing the ion beam from entering the collision cell, are also reported. When low collision gas pressures are employed (<2×10^?7 Torr He), this latter method provides collisionally induced dissociative ionization (CIDI) mass spectra of unimolecularly generated neutral fragmentation products, free of complications arising from events induced by collisions occurring outside the collision cell. The CIDI mass spectra of CH₃˙, C₂H₄, CH₃?O, CH₃OH and C₂H₆ generated from positive ion precursors and CH₃˙, CH₃O˙ and C₆H₅NO₂ generated by electron loss from negative ions are described.     

Electron impact ionization of ethylene–methanol heteroclusters: Stable configurations and mechanisms in intracluster ion–molecule reactions

Reactions that proceed within mixed ethylene–methanol cluster ions were studied using an electron impact time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The ion abundance ratio, [(C₂H₄)_n(CH₃OH)_mH⁺]/[(C₂H₄)_n(CH₃OH)_m⁺], shows a propensity to increase as the ethylene/methanol mixing ratio increases, indicating that the proton is preferentially bound to a methanol molecule in the heterocluster ions. The results from isotope-labelling experiments indicate that the effective formation of a protonated heterocluster is responsible for ethylene molecules in the clusters. The observed (C₂H₄)_n(CH₃OH)_m⁺ and (C₂H₄)_n(CH₃OH)_m–1CH₃O⁺ ions are interpreted as a consequence of the ion–neutral complex and intracluster ion–molecule reaction, respectively. Experimental evidence for the stable configurations of heterocluster species is found from the distinct abundance distributions of these ions and also from the observation of fragment peaks in the mass spectra. Investigations on the relative cluster ion distribution under various conditions suggest that (C₂H₄)_n(CH₃OH)_mH⁺ ions with n + m ≤ 3 have particularly stable structures. The result is understood on the basis of ion–molecule condensation reactions, leading to the formation of fragment ions, $ {\rm CH}_2=\!=\mathop {\rm O}\limits^ + {\rm CH}_3 $ and (CH₃OH)H₃O⁺, and the effective stabilization by a polar molecule. The reaction energies of proposed mechanisms are presented for (C₂H₄)_n(CH₃OH)_mH⁺(n + m ≤ 3) using semi-empirical molecular orbital calculations.     

Neutral counterparts of the C2H7O+ isomers

The neutral counterparts of the C₂H₇O⁺ isomers CH₃O⁺ (H)CH₃, CH₃CH₂OH₂⁺ and $ {\rm C}_2 \,{\rm H}_4 \,\, \cdot \cdot \cdot \mathop {\rm H}\limits^ + \, \cdot \cdot \cdot {\rm OH}_2 $ were studied by neutralization-reionization mass spectrometry. Protonated dimethyl ether and its —O(D)⁺ analogue were produced by protonation (deuteration) of dimethyl ether and also generated as a fragment ion from (labeled) ionized CH₃OCH₂CH(OH)CH₃ by loss of CH₃CO?. It was observed that the dissociation characteristics of the ions and the stability of their neutral counterpart depended on the internal energy of the protonated ether ions. Stable neutral CH₃?(H)CH₃ was only produced from energy-rich ions. The classical protonated ethanol ion CH₃CH₂OH₂⁺ (a) was produced at threshold by the loss of CH₃CO?. from ionized butane-2,3-diol. Mixtures of a with the non-classical ion $ {\rm C}_2 \,{\rm H}_4 \,\, \cdot \cdot \cdot \mathop {\rm H}\limits^ + \, \cdot \cdot \cdot {\rm OH}_2 $ (b) were produced by reaction of C₂H₅⁺ ions with H₂O. As for the protonated ether, only high-energy a and/or b ions yielded stable hypervalent radicals. It is suggested that the stable C₂H₇?O radicals are Rydberg states.     

Collisionally induced dissociative ionization of neutral products from unimolecular ion fragmentations. 1—Neutral product structures

A method is described for the investigation of the structure of neutral products from the unimolecular (metastable) dissociative ionizations of mass selected ions, by means of the collisionally induced dissociative ionization of the neutral species themselves. The neutral species, with kilovolt translational energies, enter a positively charged collision cell situated in the second field free region of a standard ZAB-2F mass spectrometer. Dissociative ionization of the neutrals results therein from their collisions with He target gas. The resulting ions are analysed by means of the electric sector and the relative ion abundances are shown to be structure characteristic. For such experiments the neutral flux should be c. ≥ 0.5% of the selected precursor ion flux; the collision gas pressure must be insufficient to cause significant precursor ion fragmentation in the field free region preceding the collision cell. It was shown that HNC is generated in the fragmentation of aniline molecular ions, whereas HCN is the neutral product in the dissociative ionizations of pyridine, benzonitrile and benzyl cyanide. The neutral radical [C, H₃, O˙] formed together with [CH₃CO]⁺ from ionized methyl acetate has the structure ˙CH₂OH, but that from the analogous fragmentation of the methyl propanoate molecular ion has the structure CH₃O˙. Allyl radicals were shown to be generated from [(CH₃)₂CHCH₂OH]⁺˙ together with [CH₃OH₂]⁺ ions.     

Ion cyclotron resonance studies of some reactions of C+ ions

Product distributions and rate constants for the reaction of ground state C⁺ ions with O₂, NO, HCl, CO₂, H₂S, H₂O, HCN, NH₃, CH₄, H₂CO, CH₃OH, and CH₃NH₂ have been measured. Rate constants were obtained using ion cyclotron resonance trapped ion methods at JPL, and product distributions were obtained using a tandem (Dempster-ICR) mass spectrometer at the University of Utah. Rapid carbon isotope exchange has also been observed in C⁺-CO collisions.     

A tandem mass spectrometry study of the gas phase RSC6H5Cr+L (R = H,C6H5; L = arene) and C6H5SSC6H5Cr+ ions

Ion-molecule reactions of chromium containing ions with arylsulfides have been studied in the gas phase and their products have been characterized by tandem mass spectrometry. C₆H₅SH and (C₆H₅)₂S react as typical aromatic compounds and give rise to Cr⁺C₆H₅SR] and RC₆H₅Cr⁺QH₅SR′ [R = H, CH₃, CH(CH₃)₂; R′ = H, C₆H₅] ions. Metastable ion mass spectra of the latter species show that the metal is more strongly bound to diphenylsulfide than to alkylbenzenes. C₆H₅SSC₆H₅ reacts with chromium-containing ions to form only Cr⁺(C₆H₅SSC₆H₅). The decomposition characteristics of this ion and, in particular, the presence of a recovery signal in the neutralization-reionization mass spectrum are in keeping with the formation of a 1,2-dithia[2]cyclophane complex ion, which rearranges into a structurel(s) that contains Cr?S bond(s). No evidence was found for metal atom insertion into S?S, C?S, or S?H bonds.     

Dissociative Photoionization of 1,4-Dioxane with Tunable VUV Synchrotron Radiation

The photoionization and photodissociation of 1,4-dioxane have been investigated with a reflectron time-of-flight photoionization mass spectrometry and a tunable vacuum ultraviolet synchrotron radiation in the energy region of 8.0-15.5 eV. Parent ion and fragment ions at m/z 88, 87, 58, 57, 45, 44, 43, 41, 31, 30, 29, 28 and 15 are detected under supersonic conditions. The ionization energy of DX as well as the appearance energies of its fragment ions C₄H₇O₂⁺, C₃H₆O⁺, C₃H₅O⁺, C₂H₅O⁺, C₂H₄O⁺, C₂H₃O⁺, C₃H₅⁺, CH₃O⁺, C₂H₆⁺, C₂H₅⁺/CHO⁺, C₂H₄⁺ and CH₃⁺ was determined from their photoionization efficiency curves. The optimized structures for the neutrals, cations, transition states and intermediates related to photodissociation of DX are characterized at the B3LYP/6-31+G(d,p) level and their energies are obtained by G3B3 method. Possible dissociative channels of the DX are proposed based on comparison of experimental AE values and theoretical predicted ones. Intramolecular hydrogen migrations are found to be the dominant processes in most of the fragmentation pathways of 1,4-dioxane.     

Formation and fragmentation of gas-phase ion-molecule complexes of transition-metal ions with organic molecules containing two functional groups

A mass spectrometer fast atom bombardment source has been used to synthesize, in the gas phase, the ion-molecule complexes of transition-metal ions (Ni⁺, CO⁺, Fe⁺, and Mn⁺) with α- or β-unsaturated alkenenitriles, RCH=CHCN (R=H, CH₃, and C₂H₅) and CH₃CH=CHCH₂CN, and 2-methyl glutaronitrile. The metastable ion fragmentations of the complexes are monitored in the first held-free region by B/E linked scans. Surprisingly, an intense HCN loss via an intermediate (C _n H_2n ?2)?M⁺?(HCN) is observed for the complexes of the alkenenitriles. The metal ions significantly affect the fragmentation processes. The coexistence of both end-on and side-on coordination modes is suggested to explain the fragmentations.     

Fragmentation of 2‐aroylbenzofuran derivatives by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

We investigated the gas‐phase fragmentation reactions of a series of 2‐aroylbenzofuran derivatives by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI‐MS/MS). The most intense fragment ions were the acylium ions m/z 105 and [M+H–C₆H₆]⁺, which originated directly from the precursor ion as a result of 2 competitive hydrogen rearrangements. Eliminations of CO and CO₂ from [M+H–C₆H₆]⁺ were also common fragmentation processes to all the analyzed compounds. In addition, eliminations of the radicals •Br and •Cl were diagnostic for halogen atoms at aromatic ring A, whereas eliminations of •CH₃ and CH₂O were useful to identify the methoxyl group attached to this same ring. We used thermochemical data, obtained at the B3LYP/6‐31+G(d) level of theory, to rationalize the fragmentation pathways and to elucidate the formation of E , which involved simultaneous elimination of 2 CO molecules from B .     

Elucidating the structures of isomeric silylenium ions (SiC3H 9 + , SiC4H 11 + , SiC5H 13 + ) by using specific ion/molecule reactions

Specific ion/molecule reactions are demonstrated that distinguish the structures of the following isomeric organosilylenium ions: Si(CH₃) ₃ ⁺ and SiH(CH₃)(C₂H₅)⁺; Si(CH₃)₂(C₂H₅)⁺ and SiH(C₂H₅) ₂ ⁺ ; and Si(CH₃)₂(i?C₃H₇)⁺, Si(CH₃)₂(n?C₃H₇)⁺, Si(CH₃)(C₂H₅) ₂ ⁺ , and Si(CH₃)₃(π?C₂H₄)⁺. Both methanol and isotopically labeled ethene yield structure-specific reactions with these ions. Methanol reacts with alkylsilylenium ions by competitive elimination of a corresponding alkane or dehydrogenation and yields a methoxysilylenium ion. Isotopically labeled ethene reacts specifically with alkylsilylenium ions containing a two-carbon or larger alkyl substituent by displacement of the corresponding olefin and yields an ethylsilylenium ion. Methanol reactions were found to be efficient for all systems, whereas isotopically labeled ethene reaction efficiencies were quite variable, with dialkylsilylenium ions reacting rapidly and trialkylsilylenium ions reacting much more slowly. Mechanisms for these reactions and differences in the kinetics are discussed.     

The decomposition of a triply-charged metastable positive ion of biphenyl

The transition, [C12H10]⁺³→[C₁₁H₇]⁺² + [CH₃]⁺, has been detected both in the ion kinetic energy spectrum and in the mass spectrum of biphenyl. The width of a resulting ‘metastable peak’ has been measured by setting the magnetic field to accept [C₁₁H₇]⁺² ions and scanning the high voltage at fixed electric sector voltage. The kinetic energy released in the decomposition, calculated from the peak width, amounted to 4.5 eV. With the assumption that this energy release is due entirely to charge separation, the charge distribution in [C₁₂H₁₀]⁺³ is discussed. The derivation of the equations used to calculate the energy released is given in the Appendix.     

The decay of 1-chloropropyne cation studied by photoelectron-photoion coincidence spectroscopy

The decay of internal energy selected 1-chloropropyne cations is investigated using the fixed wavelength (He-Iα) photoelectron-photoion coincidence technique. The breakdown curves of the molecular ion and the C₃H₂Cl⁺, C₃HCl⁺, CCl⁺, C₃H⁺₃, C₃H⁺₃, C₃H⁺ fragment ions are reported. For 1-chloropropyne cations initially formed in their $\text{A}\text{?}$²E state it is found that four fragmentation channels compete with a non-dissociative relaxation pathway. The average kinetic energies released on formation of C₃H⁺₃ and C₃H⁺₃ are deduced from the time-of-flight distributions of these fragment ions measured at different internal energies of the molecular ion. The coincidence data are supplemented by electron impact appearance energies. The obtained decay pattern of 1-chloropropyne cation is compared with the breakdown diagrams reported for the C₃H⁺₄ isomers, i.e. allene-, propyne- and cyclopropene cations.