Hydrogen-Atom and Charge Transfer Reactions within Acetylene/Methanol and Ethylene/Methanol Heteroclusters

Reactions that proceed within mixed acetylene-methanol and ethylene-methanol cluster ions were studied using an electron-impact time-of-flight mass spectrometer. When acetylene and methanol seeded in helium are expanded and ionized by electron impact, the ion abundance ratio, [CH3OH+]/[CH2OH+] shows a propensity to increase as the acetylene/methanol mixing ratio increases, indicating that the initially ionized acetylene ion transfers its charge to adjacent methanol molecules within the clusters. Investigations on the relative cluster ion intensity distributions of [CH3OH2+]/[CH3OH+] and [(CH3OH)2H+]/[CH3OH·CH2OH+] under various experimental conditions suggest that hydrogen-atom abstraction reaction of acetylene molecule with CH3OH ion is responsible for the effective formation of CH2OH ion. In ethylene/methanol clusters, the intensity ratio of [CH3OH2]/[CH3OH] increases linearly as the relative concentration of methanol decreases. The prominent ion intensities of (CH3OH)mH over (CH3OH)m-1CH2OH ions (m=1, 2, and 3) at all mixing ratios are also interpreted as a consequence of hydrogen atom transfer reaction between C2H4 and CH3OH to produce the protonated methanol cluster ions.