Angular scattering in dissociative collisions of ionized acetone with helium

Invited Review Article: Photofragment imaging

Photodissociation studies in molecular beams that employ position-sensitive particle detection to map product recoil velocities emerged thirty years ago and continue to evolve with new laser and detector technologies. These powerful methods allow application of tunable laser detection of single product quantum states, simultaneous measurement of velocity and angular momentum polarization, measurement of joint product state distributions for the detected and undetected products, coincident detection of multiple product channels, and application to radicals and ions as well as closed-shell molecules. These studies have permitted deep investigation of photochemical dynamics for a broad range of systems, revealed new reaction mechanisms, and addressed problems of practical importance in atmospheric, combustion, and interstellar chemistry. This review presents an historical overview, a detailed technical account of the range of methods employed, and selected experimental highlights illustrating the capabilities of the method.

Contributions of C3H6O+. ions with the oxygen on the middle carbon to gas phase ion chemistry

The numerous ways in which studies of C3H6O+. ions with the oxygen on the second carbon have added to our knowledge of gas phase ion chemistry are reviewed. The enol form of this ion (1) first attracted interest during early investigations of the mechanism of the McLafferty Rearrangement and later in characterizing the double McLafferty Rearrangement. Next, it was found that 1 isomerizes to the higher energy acetone ion (2). This discovery sparked studies of the relative stabilities of ionized and neutral enol and ketone species. It also led to the discovery that 1-->2 surmounts a substantial barrier, and that 2 dissociates faster than the excess energy deposited in it by the isomerization can become randomly distributed; i.e., dissociation following 1-->2 is nonergodic. This fact is manifested by a more abundant loss of the methyl formed by isomerization and a greater associated translational energy release. Propene oxide and methyl vinyl ether ions also appear to ionize to 2 and to dissociate nonergodically. Methane is eliminated from 2 through a methyl-acetyl ion complex. Characterization of this reaction by photoionization mass spectrometry, ab initio theory, and RRKM calculations helped to establish that complex-mediated alkane eliminations are generally confined to a region just above threshold. At higher energies, because attractions between ions and nonpolar neutrals are weak, simple dissociation is too fast for complex-mediated H-transfer to compete with it. Studies of the collision-induced dissociations of 2 demonstrate that the first electronically excited A state of 2 is very long-lived and efficiently releases its energy into translational energy when the ion collides with a neutral at low impact energies. Finally, ion-molecule reactions of 2 and acetone-containing ion clusters in the gas phase are described.

Delayed dissociation spectra of survivor ions from high-energy collisional activation

Collisional activation (CA) of large ions at kiloelectronvolt energies is accompanied by unexpectedly large losses of translational energy, which vary with the nature of the collision gas. Previous investigations have concentrated upon subsequent fragmentations occurring within a time window covering a few fis immediately following collision, using massanalyzed ion kinetic energy spectrometry. In the present work, survivor ions were selected for specified values of translational energy loss, and their internal energy contents assessed via their subsequent unimolecular fragmentation reactions within a later time window. Beam collimation was also applied when circumstances permitted to impose angular selection, thus minimizing cross talk between effects of collisional scattering and energy dispersion. It was shown that internal excitation of the reactant ion can account for only a small fraction of the observed loss of translational energy. The recoil energy of the target is thus the principal sink for the translational energy loss, since the latter was always chosen to be less than the lowest excitation energy of the target. This conclusion is shown to be consistent with theoretical models of the CA process. The practical implications of these conclusions for CA of large ions at kiloelectronvolt energies are discussed.

Principles of collisional activation in analytical mass spectrometry

Collisional activation has played an essential role in the development of mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (MS/MS). It was the first activation method to be employed and continues to be by far the most widely used. As instrumentation for MS/MS has evolved it has been found that collisional activation can be effected under a remarkably wide range of conditions for a wide range of ions. It is fair to conclude from the growth of MS/MS over the past fifteen years that collisional activation has been spectacularly successful. However, it has limitations. As a community, we have learned much over the years regarding these limitations both from empirical and fundamental points of view. This overview provides background on the development of collisional activation and discusses the importance of the interaction potential and timing on mechanisms for energy transfer. Parts of the discussion is devoted to changing reference frames from the laboratory to the center of mass to simplify visualizing what is possible and what is probable in collisional activation.

Kinetics and mechanism of the collision-activated dissociation of the acetone cation

For center-of-mass collision energies Ecm = 1-60 eV, the major fragment ions for the collision-activated dissociation (CAD) of the acetone cation are the acetyl cation (m / z 43; absolute branching ratios of 0.96-0.60) and the methyl cation (m/ z 15; absolute branching ratios of 0.02-0.26); the absolute total cross-sections were 24-35) Å(2). The breakdown curves (viz, plots of the absolute branching ratios versus Ecm) show complex, complementary energy dependences for production of MeCO(+) and Me(+), indicating apparent closure of the Me(+) channel for Ecm > 30 eV. Our observations are consistent with a competition between three fast, primary (direct) reactions, each of which opens sequentially at its respective threshold energy (viz, reactions 8, 10, and 8'). [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] That is, the breakdown curves for MeCO(+) and Me(+) (and other CAD fragments) are consistent with the interpretation by other authors that the collisional activation of the acetone cation involves electronic transitions, so that CAD occurs primarily from isolated electronic states (i.e., non-quasi-equilibrium theory (QET) behavior). For acetone we found a correspondence between the photoelectron-photoion-coincidence and CAD breakdown curves. This may indicate that collisional activation in non-QET systems corresponds to scattering angles that emphasize optically allowed transitions accessed by photoionization.