Electron capture-induced decomposition of the pyridine |;C5H5N|;2+ ion

Charge exchange in tandem mass spectrometry: dissociative single electron capture by doubly-charged toluene cations

Single electron capture by doubly-charged toluene cations upon collision with various target gases has been investigated by sector tandem mass spectrometry. Both non-dissociative and dissociative charge transfer reactions leading to C(7)H(7)(+) + H and to C(5)H(5)(+) + [C(2),H(3)] are detected. Seven atomic or molecular target gases have been used with ionisation energies ranging from 8.8 eV to 14 eV. The branching ratios between the different non-dissociative and dissociative exit channels have been determined as well as the translational energy release on the dissociation products. The experimental data are compared to the predictions of a two-state semi-classical theoretical model that takes into account the non-adiabatic transition responsible for the charge transfer reaction. A wide reaction window shows up but the internal energies of the C(7)H(8)(+) cations produced by single electron capture are observed to be larger than expected. We assign this effect partly to the influence of the large density of vibrational states and to the multichannel nature of the process. Excited states of the dication are also most probably involved in the charge exchange reaction.

Internal energy distributions deposited in doubly and singly charged tungsten hexacarbonyl ions generated by charge stripping, electron impact, and charge exchange

The distribution Pε of internal energies deposited in W(CO)6 (+•). ions upon charge stripping (that is, electron detachment to yield the doubly charged ion in the course of a single kiloelec-tronvolt energy collision) was estimated by a thermochemical method from the measured relative abundances of the doubly charged fragment ions produced. The thermochemical information needed to estimate P/ge was obtained by measuring the threshold translational energy losses associated with charge stripping of the singly charged fragment ions, W(CO) n (+) (n = 0-5). The P(/ge) curve falls exponentially with increasing internal energy. The average energy transferred to W(CO)6 (+•) upon a 7.8-keV collision with O2 is 19 eV, yielding W(CO)6 (2•) ions with an average of 4 eV of internal energy. In its general appearance, the P(ε) distribution associated with charge stripping is similar to the curves obtained from simple collisional activation of either W(CO) 6 (+•). or W(CO)6 (2+•) in kiloelectronvolt energy gaseous collisions. Given that charge stripping occurs by way of an electronic excitation process, this similarity in the energy deposition function is taken to indicate that electronic excitation is also the major mechanism for simple collisional activation in this system at zero scattering angle in the kiloelectronvolt energy regime. The internal energy distribution associated with a related charge-stripping process, charge inversion from the metal carbonyl anions to yield the corresponding cations, was also recorded. This reaction shows a large (∼7 eV) average internal energy deposition with a distribution that indicates near-zero probability of formation of unexcited ions. These data are tentatively interpreted in terms of vibrationalelectron detachment. The internal energy distribution associated with an exothermic process, charge exchange [W(CO)6 (2+•) + O2 → W(CO) + (6•)+O2 (+•)], was also characterized. Unexpectedly strong coupling of translational to internal energy is observed, and there is a large probability of depositing internal energies in excess of 10 eV, even though the exothermicity is only 3 eV. Finally, the internal energy distributions associated with the formation of doubly charged W(CO)6 (2+•) ions by electron ionization have been measured. Unlike the distribution for charge stripping, but like that for singly charged ions generated by electron impact, this distribution shows considerable structure, presumably due to Franck-Condon factors.