Consecutive ion/molecule condensation reactions and photodissociation mechanisms of condensation ions in polyacetylenic compounds

Polymerization in the gas phase, in clusters, and on nanoparticle surfaces

Gas phase and cluster experiments provide unique opportunities to quantitatively study the effects of initiators, solvents, chain transfer agents, and inhibitors on the mechanisms of polymerization. Furthermore, a number of important phenomena, unique structures, and novel properties may exist during gas-phase and cluster polymerization. In this regime, the structure of the growing polymer may change dramatically and the rate coefficient may vary significantly upon the addition of a single molecule of the monomer. These changes would be reflected in the properties of the oligomers deposited from the gas phase. At low pressures, cationic and radical cationic polymerizations may proceed in the gas phase through elimination reactions. In the same systems at high pressure, however, the ionic intermediates may be stabilized, and addition without elimination may occur. In isolated van der Waals clusters of monomer molecules, sequential polymerization with several condensation steps can occur on a time scale of a few microseconds following the ionization of the gas-phase cluster. The cluster reactions, which bridge gas-phase and condensed-phase chemistry, allow examination of the effects of controlled states of aggregation. This Account describes several examples of gas-phase and cluster polymerization studies where the most significant results can be summarized as follows: (1) The carbocation polymerization of isobutene shows slower rates with increasing polymerization steps resulting from entropy barriers, which could explain the need for low temperatures for the efficient propagation of high molecular weight polymers. (2) Radical cation polymerization of propene can be initiated by partial charge transfer from an ionized aromatic molecule such as benzene coupled with covalent condensation of the associated propene molecules. This novel mechanism leads exclusively to the formation of propene oligomer ions and avoids other competitive products. (3) Structural information on the oligomers formed by gas-phase polymerization can be obtained using the mass-selected ion mobility technique where the measured collision cross-sections of the selected oligomer ions and collision-induced dissociation can provide fairly accurate structural identifications. The identification of the structures of the dimers and trimers formed in the gas-phase thermal polymerization of styrene confirms that the polymerization proceeds according to the Mayo mechanism. Similarly, the ion mobility technique has been utilized to confirm the formation of benzene cations by intracluster polymerization following the ionization of acetylene clusters. Finally, it has been shown that polymerization of styrene vapor on the surface of activated nanoparticles can lead to the incorporation of a variety of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles within polystyrene films. The ability to probe the reactivity and structure of the small growing oligomers in the gas phase can provide fundamental insight into mechanisms of polymerization that are difficult to obtain from condensed-phase studies. These experiments are also important for understanding the growth mechanisms of complex organics in flames, combustion processes, interstellar clouds, and solar nebula where gas-phase reactions, cluster polymerization, and surface catalysis on dust nanoparticles represent the major synthetic pathways. This research can lead to the discovery of novel initiation mechanisms and reaction pathways with applications in the synthesis of oligomers and nanocomposites with unique and improved properties.

Association reactions at low pressure. III. The C2H2+/C2H2 system

The association reactions, C4H2(+) + C2H2 and C4H3(+) + C2H2 have been examined at pressures between 8 x 10(-8) and 1 x 10(-4) Torr at 298 K in an ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer. Association occurred via two different mechanisms. At pressures below approximately 2 x 10(-6) Torr, the association was bimolecular having rate coefficients k2 = 2.7 x 10(-10) cm3 s-1 and 2.0 x 10(-10) cm3 s-1 for C4H2+ and C4H3+, respectively. At pressures above approximately 2 x 10(-6) Torr, termolecular association was observed with rate coefficients, k3 = 5.7 x 10(-23) cm6 s-1 and 1.3 x 10(-23) cm6 s-1 for C4H2+ and C4H3+, respectively, when M = C2H2. The termolecular rate constants with N2, Ar, Ne, and He as the third body, M, are also reported. We propose that the low pressure bimolecular association process was the result of radiative stabilization of the complex and the termolecular association process was the result of collisional stabilization. Elementary rate coefficients were obtained and the lifetime of the collision complex was > or = 57 microseconds for (C6H4+)* and > or = 18 microseconds for (C6H5+)*. At pressures below 1 x 10(-6) Torr, approximately 11% of the (C6H4+)* were stabilized by photon emission and the remaining approximately 89% reverted back to reactants, while approximately 24% of the (C6H5+)* were stabilized by photon emission and the remaining approximately 76% reverted back to reactants. The ionic products of the C2H2(+) + C2H2 reaction, C4H2+ and C4H3+, were found to be formed with enough internal energy that they did not react by the radiative association channel until relaxed by several nonreactive collisions with the bath gas.