Gas-phase reactivity of ruthenium carbonyl cluster anions

Partially-ligated anionic ruthenium carbonyl clusters react with alkenes, arenes, and alkanes in the gas phase; the products undergo extensive C-H activation and lose dihydrogen and carbon monoxide under collision-induced dissociation conditions. Triethylsilane and phenylsilane are also reactive towards the unsaturated clusters, and oxygen was shown to rapidly break down the cluster core by oxidative cleavage of the metal-metal bonds. These qualitative gas-phase reactivity studies were conducted using an easily-installed and inexpensive modification of a commercial electrospray ionization mass spectrometer. Interpretation of the large amounts of data generated in these studies is made relatively straightforward by employing energy-dependent electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (EDESI-MS).