Gas phase synthesis and reactivity of Ag-n( ) and Agn-1H cluster cations

Abstract

Multi-stage mass spectrometry (MSn) on [(M + Ag - H)x + Ag]+ precursor ions (where M = an amino acid such as glycine or N,N-dimethylglycine) results in the formation of stable silver (Ag3+, Ag5+ and Ag7+) and silver hydride (Ag2H+, Ag4H+ and Ag6H+) cluster cations in the gas phase. Deuterium labelling studies reveal that the source of the hydride can be either from the alpha carbon or from one of the heteroatoms. When M = glycine, the silver cyanide clusters Ag4CN+ and Ag5(H,C,N)+ are also observed. Collision induced dissociation (CID) and DFT calculations were carried out on each of these clusters to shed some light on their possible structures. CID of the Agn+ and Ag(n-1)H+ clusters genera..