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Medium‐sized phosphorus cluster cations P + 2 m +1 (6 ≤ m ≤ 32) studied by collision‐induced dissociation mass spectrometry
Author(s) -
Mu Lei,
Yang Shumei,
Bao Xiaodi,
Yin Hong,
Kong Xianglei
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.475
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9888
pISSN - 1076-5174
DOI - 10.1002/jms.3705
Subject(s) - chemistry , dissociation (chemistry) , collision induced dissociation , mass spectrometry , cluster (spacecraft) , analytical chemistry (journal) , mass spectrum , crystallography , tandem mass spectrometry , chromatography , computer science , programming language
Medium‐sized phosphorus cluster cations were generated by laser ablation of red phosphorus and investigated by the method of collision‐induced dissociation mass spectrometry. Experimental results show that the primary dissociation channels of phosphorus cluster cations of P + 2 m +1 (6 ≤ m ≤ 11) are all characterized by the loss of P 4 unit. For larger cluster cations, their dissociation pathways were more complex. For those magic cations of P + 8 k +1 observed previously, their dissociation pathways progressively change from the loss of P 4 unit (for k = 3) to the loss of P 8 unit (for k = 4, 5). A new dissociation pathway characterized by the loss of P 10 unit was also indentified for larger cations of P + 8 k +1 (6 ≤ k ≤ 8). Theoretical calculation also shows that, for cations of P + 2 m +1 (4 ≤ m ≤ 10), the dissociation channel characterized by the loss of P 4 unit is more energetically favorable than other dissociation channels, which is in good agreement with the experimental results. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.