Cycloreversion and other gas‐phase reactions of neutral and cationic pyrrolidine‐fused chlorins and isobacteriochlorins under ion bombardment and electrospray

Abstract

Neutral and cationic pyrrolidine-fused chlorins and isobacteriochlorins derived from meso-tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)porphyrin undergo cycloreversion reactions in the gas phase, either when desorbed from a liquid matrix by ion bombardment or when electrosprayed. Cycloreversion occurs through loss of either neutral or charged moieties, with and without hydrogen and methyl radical migration, and both as high- and low-energy collision processes. For the doubly charged isobacteriochlorin, one-electron reduction with methyl loss occurs under ion bombardment and electrospray, through hypervalent pyrrolidinium radical formation.