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Generation and characterization of dihydroxycarbene, HOCOH, by neutralization/reionization mass spectrometry
Author(s) -
Wiedmann Fred A.,
Cai Jinnan,
Wesdemiotis Chrys
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
rapid communications in mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.528
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1097-0231
pISSN - 0951-4198
DOI - 10.1002/rcm.1290081003
Subject(s) - chemistry , reionization , characterization (materials science) , mass spectrometry , neutralization , analytical chemistry (journal) , chromatography , ion , nanotechnology , organic chemistry , ionization , materials science , antibody , immunology , biology
Dihydroxycarbene is produced in the gas phase by neutralization of the HOCOH +· radical cation which is formed by dissociative electron ionization of oxalic acid. Reionization ∼0.3 μs later shows that HOCOH can survive intact and, thus, exists as a stable species with appreciable barriers for dissociation or rearrangement to formic acid (HCOOH). Within the time scale of the experiment, a small fraction of the carbene decomposes to H 2 O + CO. comprison of the experimental results with ab initio theory shows that the dissociating HOCOH molecules are generated in the electronically excited triplet state, while the klarge amount of surviving carbene molecules is formed in the singlet ground state.