Reactions of metal ions and their clusters in the gas phase using laser ionization: ion cyclotron resonance spectroscopy

Two subjects are discussed in this report: advances in proposed studies on metal ion chemistry and expansion of laboratory facilities. The development of a combined pulsed laser source-ion cyclotron resonance spectrometer has proven to be a convenient and powerful method for generating metal ions and for studying their subsequent chemistry in the gas phase. The main emphasis of this research has been on the application of metal ions as a selective chemical ionization reagents and progress in this area are discussed. The goal is to identify trends in reactivity i.e. mechanisms useful in interpreting the chemical ionization spectra of unknown compounds and to test for the functional group selectivity of the various metal ions. The feasibility of these goals have been demonstrated in extensive studies on Cu+ with esters and ketones, on Fe+ with ethers, ketones, and hydrocarbons, and on Ti+ with hydrocarbons. In addition, preliminary results on sulfur containing compounds and on a variety of other metallic ions have been obtained. Laboratory facilities were expanded from one ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) spectrometer to two, plus a third instrument the Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance (FTICR) spectrometer