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Capturing the Generation and Structural Transformations of Molecular Ions
Published on 10th January 2024, a groundbreaking article in Nature delves into the exploration of molecular ions, shedding light on their structures and conformational transitions, particularly in the gas phase.
Molecular ions play crucial roles in various reactions, especially within atmospheric and interstellar chemistry. However, their structural characteristics and transitions, particularly in the gas phase, have been relatively unexplored due to experimental challenges.
The article highlights the study of halonium ions, known for their highly reactive nature and ring strain, making them short-lived intermediates vulnerable to attack by weak nucleophiles. This inherent reactivity poses challenges in isolating or capturing them before further reactions occur.
The research introduces the utilization of mega-electronvolt ultrafast electron diffraction (MeV-UED) in conjunction with resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization to monitor the formation of 1,3-dibromopropane (DBP) cations and their subsequent structural dynamics, leading to the creation of a halonium ion.
The findings reveal that the DBP+ cation persists for a significant duration of 3.6 ps in ‘dark states’ structurally indistinguishable from the DBP electronic ground state. Supported by surface-hopping simulations and ab initio calculations, the structural data unveils the cation’s transition to iso-DBP+, an unusual intermediate housing a loosely bound bromine atom within a four-membered ring, ultimately culminating in the formation of a bromonium ion with a three-membered-ring structure.
The article anticipates that the approach employed in the study can be extended to investigate the structural dynamics of other molecular ions, further enriching our understanding of ion chemistry.
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