Fragmentation of doubly charged noble metal clusters

The dissociation patterns of doubly charged noble metal clusters (M) _n ⁺⁺ to two singly charged clusters, (M) _m ^Emphasis>1/+ and (M) _m ^Emphasis>2/+ have been investigated using a double focusing mass spectrometer. They are compared with the dissociation patterns from singly charged clusters. The dissociation probabilities to (M) ₃ ⁺ and (M) ₉ ⁺ were large and the odd-even alternations were observed in both patterns.