Molecular mass determination of saturated hydrocarbons: reactivity of eta5-cyclopentadienylcobalt ion (CpCo*+) and linear alkanes up to C-30

H C Michelle Byrd; Charles M Guttman; Douglas P Ridge

doi:10.1016/s1044-0305(02)00815-2

Molecular mass determination of saturated hydrocarbons: reactivity of eta5-cyclopentadienylcobalt ion (CpCo*+) and linear alkanes up to C-30

J Am Soc Mass Spectrom. 2003 Jan;14(1):51-7. doi: 10.1016/s1044-0305(02)00815-2.

Authors

H C Michelle Byrd¹, Charles M Guttman, Douglas P Ridge

Affiliation

¹ National Institute of Standards and Technology, Polymers Division, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, USA. michelle.byrd@nist.gov

PMID: 12504333
DOI: 10.1016/s1044-0305(02)00815-2

Abstract

The present study demonstrates the feasibility of the eta5-cyclopentadienylcobalt ion (CpCo*+) as a suitable cationization reagent for saturated hydrocarbon analysis by mass spectrometry. Ion/molecule reactions of CpCo*+ and three medium chain-length n-alkanes were examined using Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. Second-order rate constants and reaction efficiencies were determined for the reactions studied. Loss of two hydrogen molecules from the CpCo-alkane ion complex was found to dominate all reactions ( > or = 80%). Furthermore, this dehydrogenation reaction efficiency increases with increasing chain length. These preliminary results suggest that the CpCo*+ ion may be a promising cationization reagent of longer chain saturated hydrocarbons and polyolefins.