Infrared Laser Spectroscopy of Mass-Selected Carbocations

From the mobile proton to wandering hydride ion: mechanistic aspects of gas-phase ion chemistry

Structural characterization of molecular species by mass spectrometry supposes the knowledge of the type of ions generated and the mechanism by which they dissociate. In this context, a need for a rationalization of electrospray ionization(+)(-) mass spectra of small molecules has been recently expressed. Similarly, at the other end of the mass scale, efforts are currently made to interpret the major fragmentation processes of protonated and deprotonated peptides and their reduced forms produced in electron capture or electron transfer experiments. Most fragmentation processes of molecular and pseudo-molecular ions produced in the ion source of a mass spectrometer may be described by a combination of several key mechanistic steps: simple bond dissociation, formation of ion-neutral complex intermediates, hydrogen atom, hydride ion or proton migrations and nucleophilic attack. Selected crucial aspects of these elementary reactions, occurring inside positively charged ions, will be recalled and illustrated by examples taken in recent mass spectrometry literature. Emphasis will be given on the protonation process and its consequence in terms of structure and energetic.

IR photodissociation spectroscopy of H7(+), H9(+), and their deuterated analogues

Cluster ions of H7(+)/D7(+) and H9(+)/D9(+) produced in a supersonic molecular beam with a pulsed discharge source are mass selected and studied with infrared laser photodissociation spectroscopy. Photodissociation occurs by the loss of H2 (D2) from each cluster, producing resonances in the 2000-4500 cm(-1) region. Vibrational patterns indicate that these ions consist of an H3(+) (D3(+)) core ion solvated by H2 (D2) molecules. There is no evidence for the shared proton structure seen previously for H5(+). The H3(+) ion core vibrational bands are weakened and broadened significantly, presumably by enhanced rates of intramolecular vibrational relaxation. Computational studies at the DFT/B3LYP or MP2 levels of theory (including scaling) are adequate to reproduce qualitative details of the vibrational spectra, but neither provides quantitative agreement with vibrational frequencies.