Gas-phase reactions of C3Hn+ ions

✍ Scribed by Stephen D. Prodnuk; Scott Grocert; Veronica M. Bierbaum; Charles H. DePuy

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 684 KB
• Volume: 27
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1076-5174
• DOI: 10.1002/oms.1210270411

✦ Synopsis

The kinetics and reactivity of linear C,H+ and cyclic and linear isomers of C3H2+ and C3H3+ were studied in a tandem flowing afterglow-selected ion flow tube (FASIFT). The C3Hm+ ions represent possible ionic precursors to neutral cyclopropenylidene, c-C3H2, a molecule that has been found to be one of the most common species in interstellar space. Accordingly, rate coefficients and product branching ratios were measured for reactions of each ion with a variety of organic and inorganic compounds, with particular (but not exclusive) attention to neutral species likely to be present in the interstellar medium. The chemistry of C3H+ is found to be dominated by oxygen abstraction reactions to produce the relatively stable HC30+ ion, and by reactions in which C2H2 or CO are eliminated. Cyclic and linear isomers of C3H,+ readily abstract H atoms to produce the stable cyclic or linear C3H3+ ions, presumably the ionic precursors to interstellar C,H2. C3H3+ ions react predominantly by clustkng with the neutral reagent in thee-body Pssociation reactions. C3H3+ also proton transfers to several species to produce directly neutral C,H2.