Gas-Phase Ion and Radical Chemistry of CO2 Adducts with Possible Relevance in the Atmosphere of Mars

Soldi-Lose Héloïse: Gas-Phase Ion and Radical Chemistry of CO2 Adducts with Possible Relevance in the Atmosphere of Mars In the Mars atmosphere, reactivity of trace components is as relevant as that of the major compounds if formation of complex molecules is considered. These are of great importance concerning the existence of a past or future life on Mars. In this context, the gas-phase chemistry of alkylcarbonate and alkyloxalate ions and radicals, ROCOO –/• and ROCOCOO –/• , is investigated for different alkyl substituents R (H, CH3, C2H5, i-C3H7, and t-C4H9). This study describes the structures, stability, and unimolecular dissociation behavior of these species and is achieved by means of mass spectrometric methods and ab initio calculations. Standard heats of formation of the ions and radicals are determined via computational methods, using atomization energies and bond-separation reactions. Vertical charge-transfer experiments are performed to provide evidence for the existence of the radicals under study and the NIDD (ion and neutral decomposition difference) method is employed to determine their reactivity. Typical processes observed involve direct bond cleavages leading to elimination of carbon dioxide. Concerning anionic compounds, classical metastable ion (MI) and collisional activation (CA) experiments enable the determination of their gas-phase behavior. This, in contrast to radicals, is not only constituted by direct bond cleavages, but also by hydride-transfer reaction or carbon monoxide expulsion involving formation of ion-neutral complexes as intermediates. Translational energy loss spectra are also employed to gain more insights concerning the dissociation energetics of CH3OCOO • and CH3OCOO + formed by vertical charge-transfer of methylcarbonate. This rather unusual method for such study implies a careful evaluation of the error caused by the instrument which may otherwise generate dramatic deviations of the results compared to theory. te l-0 04 43 93 8, v er si on 1 5 Ja n 20 10