Mass spectra of partially fluorinated β-diketonato complexes of Al(III), Cr(III), Fe(III) and Co(III)

The mass spectra of the Al(III), Cr(III), Fe(III) and Co(III) complexes of the anions of hexafluoroacetylacetone (hfac) trifluoroacetylacetone (ttac), benzoyltrifluoroacetone (btac) and thenoyltrifluoroacetone (ttac) have been determined and are discussed here. Emphasis is placed on discerning which of the observed reactions may properly be attributed to the influence of the metal in the complex and those which may be thought of as arising from the nature of the ligand. The most important influence of the coordinated metal is related to its ability to be reduced²; however, the presence of the metal serves to prohibit or facilitate certain rearrangement reactions relative to the free protonated ligand. Since essentially all fragmentation occurs within or by loss of a ligand, the nature of the ligand determines the nature of the observed fragments. Where intramolecular com-petition of fragment types is possible (tfac, btac and ttac complexes), the most probable fragment of a given class, odd electron or even electron, is easily determined. The most commonly eliminated fragments are CF₃and CF₂. Certain metastable peaks are associated with consecutive decomposition in the field free region. Such a phenomenon appears to be common for molecules of the type studied here.