Ab initio ground and the first excited adiabatic and quasidiabatic potential energy surfaces of H + CO system

Ab initio global adiabatic as well as quasidiabatic potential energy surfaces for the ground and the first excited electronic states of the H⁺ + CO system have been computed as a function of the Jacobi coordinates (R, r, γ) using Dunning’s cc-pVTZ basis set at the internally contracted multi-reference (single and double) configuration interaction level of accuracy. In addition, nonadiabatic coupling matrix elements arising from radial motion, mixing angle and coupling potential have been computed using the ab initio procedure [Simah et al. (1999) [66]] for the purpose of dynamics study. The geometrical properties corresponding to the minimum energy of the bound HCO⁺ and HOC⁺ isomers have been obtained and compared with those predicted by previous theoretical and experimental results. The HCO⁺ has been found to be more stable than the HOC⁺. The minimum energy pathway in the ground electronic state for the isomerization process, HCO⁺ ? HOC⁺ has also been obtained as a function of γ.     

Observation of far-infrared transitions of HCO+, CO+ and HN+2

Rotational transitions of molecular ions HCO⁺, CO⁺, and HN⁺₂ have been observed at frequencies aroud 1 THz. The ions were produced in the negative glow of a hollow cathode discharge cooled by liquid nitrogen. Preliminary results indicate efficient production of ions in an absorption cell of simple construction.     

Gas-phase reactivity of rare earth cations with phenol: Competitive activation of C-O, O-H, and C-H bonds

The gas-phase reactions of Sc⁺, Y⁺, and Ln⁺ (Ln=La-Lu, except Pm) ions with phenol were studied by Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. All the ions except Yb⁺ were observed to react with the organic substrate, activating O-H, C-O, and/or C-H bonds, with formation of MO⁺, MOH⁺, and/or MOC₆H ₄ ⁺ ions as primary products. The product distributions and the reaction efficiencies obtained showed the existence of important differences in the relative reactivity of the rare earth metal cations, which are discussed in terms of factors like the electron configurations of the metal ions, their oxophilicity, and the second ionization energies of the metals. The primary product ions participated in subsequent reactions, yielding species such as M(OH)(OC₆H₅)⁺, which lead mainly to M(OC₆H₅)₂(HOC₆H₅) _n ⁺ ions, where n=0–2. Formation of M(OC₆H₅)(HOC₆H₅) _n ⁺ species was also observed in the case of the metals that have high stabilities of the formal oxidation state 2+, Sm and Eu.     

Thermochemistry of HCOS+ and HCS2+

Heats of formation for HCOS⁺ and HCS₂⁺, obtained from high-quality ab initio calculations, have been used to determine the thermochemistry of several reactions which may form these ions in interstellar clouds or mass spectrometer experiments. Radiative association of HCO⁺ or HCS⁺ with either O or S may be important in interstellar clouds, whereas proton transfer from H₃⁺ or HCO⁺ to CS₂ or COS may be a means of synthesizing these ions by mass spectrometry. In the latter case, the relevant heats of formation are: HCS₂⁺(¹A₁) 1042 kJ mol^?1 and HCOS⁺ (¹A′) 996 kJ mol^?1.     

Characterization of europium(III) carbonate complexes in simulated groundwater by solvent extraction

The complex formation of Eu(III) by bicarbonate/carbonate ions has been studied at 0.1 M ionic strength and 25°C using synergistic solvent extraction system of 1-nitroso-2-naphthol and 1,10-phenanthroline in chloroform. Concentrations of bicarbonate (5·10^–3 to 1·10^–1 M) and carbonate (5·10^–4 to 1·10^–2 M) ions in the aqueous phase have been varied in the pH range of 8.0 to 9.1 to simulate ground and natural water compositions. Under these conditions, the following species have been identified: Eu(HCO₃)²⁺, Eu(HCO₃)₂ ⁺, Eu(CO₃)⁺ and Eu(CO₃)₂ ^–. Their conditional formation constants (log ) have been calculated as 4.77, 6.74, 6.92 and 10.42, respectively. These values suggest that the carbonate complexes of Eu(III) are highly stable.     

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.     

Abiotic C?C bond formation under environmental conditions: Kinetics of the aldol condensation of acetaldehyde in water catalyzed by carbonate ions (CO32−)

The role of C? C bond‐forming reactions such as aldol condensation in the degradation of organic matter in natural environments is receiving a renewed interest because naturally occurring ions, ammonium ions, NH⁺₄, and carbonate ions, CO₃^2?, have recently been reported to catalyze these reactions. While the catalysis of aldol condensation by OH^? has been widely studied, the catalytic properties of carbonate ions, CO₃^2?, have been little studied, especially under environmental conditions. This work presents a study of the catalysis of the aldol condensation of acetaldehyde in aqueous solutions of sodium carbonate (0.1–50 mM) at T = 295 ± 2 K. By monitoring the absorbance of the main product, crotonaldehyde, instead of that of acetaldehyde, interferences from other reaction products and from side reactions, in particular a known Cannizzaro reaction, were avoided. The rate constant was found to be first order in acetaldehyde in the presence of both CO₃^2? and OH^?, suggesting that previous studies reporting a second order for this base‐catalyzed reaction were flawed. Comparisons between the rate constants in carbonate solutions and in sodium hydroxide solutions ([NaOH] = 0.3–50 mM) showed that, among the three bases present in carbonate solutions, CO₃^2?, HCO₃^?, and OH^?, OH^? was the main catalyst for pH ≤ 11. CO₃^2? became the main catalyst at higher pH, whereas the catalytic contribution of HCO₃^? was negligible over the range of conditions studied (pH 10.3–11.3). Carbonate‐catalyzed condensation reactions could contribute significantly to the degradation of organic matter in hyperalkaline natural environments (pH ≥ 11) and be at the origin of the macromolecular matter found in these environments. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 42: 676–686, 2010     

Ab initio studies of the protonation of CO,N2 and NO+: Calculation of the minimum energy reaction paths

Ab initio molecular orbital calculations employing a 4-31G basis set have been used to study the minimum energy paths for the formation of HCO⁺, COH⁺, and HCOH²⁺ from CO by protonation. The protonation of N₂ to give NNH⁺ and HNNH²⁺ and of NO⁺ to form HNO²⁺ and NOH²⁺ have also been investigated. All species formed have linear equilibrium geometries and the minimum energy path for approach of the proton is along the line-of-centers of the heavy atoms. Energy barriers to the formation of the various species are given, where appropriate, and changes in geometry, ordering of molecular orbitals and orbital occupancy are discussed.     

Searching for the ionized alkene/aikanol complexes [C2H4+⋅/HOCH3] and [C2H4+⋅/HOCH2CH3]

Experiments on a variety of isomeric [C₃H₈O]⁺? and [C₄H₁₀O]⁺? ions have failed to produce direct evidence for the involvement of the complex ions [C₂H₄⁺?/HOCH₃] and [C₂H₄⁺?/HOC₂H₅]. For the isomers studied, the rearrangements prior to their dissociation of lowest energy requirement (loss of H₂O and C₂H₅?, respectively) are proposed to involve distonic and ylid ions.     

Electronic structures and NMR of some hydroxycarbonium ions

The proton and isotropic (¹³C) magnetic resonances of some hydroxycarbonium ions (HCHOH⁺, CH₃CHOH⁺ (CH₃)₂COH⁺ HCO₂H₂⁺, CH₃CO₂H₂⁺, and CH₃OH₂⁺) are discussed in relation to their electronic structures computed by means of the INDO—SCF method. The proton and carbon-13 chemical shifts, which depend directly on the local diamagnetic and paramagnetic contributions respectively, are reasonably explained by the electronic structures of the hydroxycarbonium ions relative to those of the corresponding parent molecules. The Fermi contact interaction term is found to be well reflected in the hydrogen-hydrogen and carbon-hydrogen coupling constants, and the differences in the coupling constants between rotational isomers of the ions are discussed from the viewpoint of their electronic properties.     

Coulomb explosion dynamics of N2O in intense laser-field: Identification of new two-body and three-body fragmentation pathways

The Coulomb explosion process of N₂O in an intense laser-field (∼5 PW/cm²) has been investigated by the high-resolution time-of-flight (TOF) spectroscopy. Six two-body explosion pathways involving the NO⁺, NO²⁺, N₂ ⁺ molecular ions have been securely identified from the momentum-scaled TOF spectra of the fragment ions. Assuming a linear geometry, three-body explosion pathways were investigated by sequential and concerted explosion models. When the concerted model is adopted, the observed momentum distributions of six atomic ion channels; N⁺, N²⁺, N³⁺, O⁺, O²⁺ and O³⁺, were well fitted using the Gaussian momentum distribution with the optimized bond elongation factor of 2.2(3). From the yields of individual Coulomb explosion pathways determined by the fit, the abundance of the parent ions, N₂O^z+ (z=2–8), prior to the two- body and three-body explosion processes was found to have a smooth distribution with a maximum at z∼3.     

Energy dependence of the fragmentation of some isomeric [C6H12]+˙ ions

The charge exchange mass spectra of 14 C₆H₁₂ isomers have been determined using [CS₂]^+˙, [COS]^+˙, [Xe]^+˙, [CO]^+˙, [N₂]^+˙ and [Ar]^+˙ as the major reactant ions covering the recombination energy range from ∼10.2 eV to ∼15.8 eV. From the charge exchange data breakdown graphs have been constructed expressing the energy dependence of the fragmentation of the isomeric [C₆H₁₂]^+˙ molecular ions. The electron impact mass spectra are discussed in relation to these breakdown graphs and approximate internal energy distribution functions derived from photoelectron spectra.     

Multiple-stage mass spectrometry in structural characterization of organophosphorus compounds

Multiple-stage mass spectrometry involving consecutive collision-activated dissociation reactions was used to examine the structures of fragment ions commonly formed on electron ionization of organophosphorus esters. The compounds studied include several aryl thiophosphates, some of which are analogs of common pesticides. Energy-resolved collisionactivated dissociation experiments allow the dissociation of the molecular ions of these compounds in such a manner that only a few fragment ions dominate the spectrum. An abundant fragment ion of m/z 109, formed from all of the compounds studied, can have at least four different stable structures: (CH₃O)₂PO⁺, CH₃CH₂OP(O)OH⁺, CH₂ =CHOP(H)(OH)₂ ⁺, and (CH₂O)₂P(H)OH⁺. The structure of the fragment ion of m/z 109 was found to reflect the phosphorus-containing part of the compounds studied. Another abundant fragment ion obtained for all the aryl esters studied is structurally characteristic of the aromatic moiety of the molecule. This fragment ion is the result of a complex rearrangement involving transfer of an alkylene group to the aromatic ring from the phosphoruscontaining part of the molecular ion. The utility of these fragment ions in the structural characterization of unknown organophosphorus esters is discussed.     

Chemical ionization mass spectrometry of halomethanes with tetramethylsilane as reagent gas

Chemical ionization mass spectra of halomethanes measured using tetramethylsilane as reagent gas exhibit three major peaks corresponding to [M + SiMe₃]⁺, [M − X]⁺ and (MeSi)₂X⁺ ions (X = Cl, Br or I). Dihalomethanes CH₂X₂ form the most stable silylated molecular ions, whereas in the mass spectra of tetrahalomethanes (CX₄) these ions have not been detected and the ions CX₃⁺ are the most abundant. Production of bistrimethylsilyl-halonium ions is the most pronounced process for haloforms (CHX₃).     

Kinetic-energy spectroscopy of high-rydberg fragments from keV collisions of H2+, D2+, N2+ and C2+ ions with rare-gas atoms

A method for measuring the kinetic-energy spectrum of high-Rydberg fragments from collisions of keV molecular ions with rare-gas atoms is described. The kinetic-energy spectra of high-Rydberg fragments from the collisions between D₂⁺, H₂⁺, N₂⁺ and C₂⁺ ions having 8 keV kinetic energy and thermal He and Xe are reported. Two single-collision processes for the generation of high-Rydberg fragments have been identified.     

The mass spectra of isomeric hydrocarbons—I: Norbornene and nortricyclene; The mechanisms and energetics of their fragmentations

The mass spectra of norbornene, nortricyclene and deuterium labeled derivatives thereof have been studied. The appearance potentials of the ions [C₇H₁₀]^+·, [C₇H₉]⁺, [C₆H₇]⁺ and [C₅H₆]^+· have been determined for both compounds and heats of formation of the hydrocarbons have been estimated. Detailed fragmentation schemes are proposed for the molecular ions and it is concluded that they dissociate by essentially different mechanisms which do not involve common intermediates. The structures and energy contents of the primary fragment ions are discussed in detail by comparing energetics, labeling experiments and metastable ion abundances.     

The reaction energies of ethylene, CO, and N2 with proton, hydrogen atom, and hydride ion

It is shown by quantum chemical simulation (MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ) that the energy of addition of H⁺, H^·, and H^? decreases in the order ethylene, CO, and N₂. The energies of additions of CF₄, dimethyl ether, and BF₃ to the ions and radicals formed were calculated. Unlike the CH₃CH₂ ^? ion, the HCO^? ion can add exothermically not one, but two BF₃ molecules.     

Polyatomic ions in inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry: Part II: Origins of N2H and HxCO ions using experimental measurements combined with calculated energies and structures

Several polyatomic ions in inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry are studied experimentally and by computational methods. Novel calculations based on spin-restricted open shell second order perturbation theory (ZAPT2) and coupled cluster (CCSD(T)) theory are performed to determine the energies, structures and partition functions of the ions. These values are combined with experimental data to evaluate a dissociation constant and gas kinetic temperature (T_gas) value. In our opinion, the resulting T_gas value can sometimes be interpreted to deduce the location where the polyatomic ion of interest is generated. The dissociation of N₂H⁺ to N₂⁺ leads to a calculated T_gas of 4550 to 4900 K, depending on the computational data used. The COH⁺ to CO⁺ system yields a similar temperature, which is not surprising considering the similar energies and structures of COH⁺ and N₂H⁺. The dissociation of H₂CO⁺ to HCO⁺ leads to a much lower T_gas (< 1000 to 2000 K). Finally, the dissociation of H₂COH⁺ to HCOH⁺ generates a T_gas value between those from the other H_xCO⁺ ions studied here. All of these measured T_gas values correspond to formation of extra polyatomic ion in the interface or extraction region. The computations reveal the existence of isomers such as HCO⁺ and COH⁺, and H₂CO⁺ and HCOH⁺, which have virtually the same m/z values and need to be considered in the interpretation of results.     

Infrared spectroscopy of cold trapped molecular ions using He‐tagging

This review summarizes experimental activities to study the structure of molecular ions via He tagging. The method is based on the attachment of a weakly bound helium atom to a cold ion followed by laser‐induced predissociation (LIP). Since my early involvements (it started in 1977 with a letter from Y.T. Lee), radio frequency (rf) ion traps and ion guides have been important elements in instruments dedicated to ion spectroscopy. Accumulating ions in a ring electrode trap (RET) and confining them together with the laser‐induced photofragments in a long octopole has been demonstrated in 1978 in Berkeley via photodissociation of metastable O₂⁺ ions. In the early stage of this instrument, as well as in various further developments, supersonic expansions have been used to create weakly bound complexes. An important step forward for ion spectroscopy was to push the conditions of cryogenic ion traps so far that, finally, He atoms could be attached to almost any mass‐selected ion of interest, including multiply charged ions and C₆₀⁺. Currently, modern ion storage instruments reach temperatures below 3 K and can be operated at helium densities above 10¹⁶ cm⁻³, opening up many avenues of application in spectroscopy, reaction dynamics, and analytical chemistry. In addition to a personal historical review, I discuss recent progress made with new cryogenic ion traps, especially in the field of He tagging. He‐M⁺ ions have been formed via ternary association for all kind of M⁺ ions ranging from atoms such as He⁺, N⁺, or Fe⁺ via molecules N₂⁺, VO⁺, and H₃⁺ to various polyatomic ions. The in situ synthesis of tagged ions made unique discoveries possible, such as determining the structure of doubly charged benzene, the first identification of a carrier of diffuse interstellar bands, or the characterization of the fundamental 4 electron 4 center system He–H₃⁺. In the conclusions, hints to additional applications will be given, emphasizing on the versatility of temperature‐variable ion traps.     

Gas-phase protonation and methyl cation transfer from methyl halide ions

The ion-molecule reactions between [CH₃X]⁺˙ [CH₃XH] ⁺, [CH₃XCH₃]⁺ ions (X = F, Cl, Br, I) and a number of nucleophiles have been studied by ion cyclotron resonance techniques. Protonation of the nucleophiles is observed to occur from both the molecular ions [CH₃]X⁺˙ and protonated species [CH₃XH]⁺ whereas dimethylhalonium ions [CH₃XCH₃]⁺ react principally by methyl cation transfer. A notable exception occurs in methyl iodide where the molecular ions [CH₃I]⁺˙ act both as proton and methyl cation donors, whereas dimethyliodonium ions are found unreactive. The results are discussed with reference to the use of alkyl halides as reagent gases in chemical ionization experiments.