Fullerometallic Ion Chemistry:  Reactions of C₆₀Fe⁺and C₂₀H₁₀Fe⁺in the Gas Phase

Abstract

Fe+ has been attached to buckminsterfullerene, C(60), and corannulene, C(20)H(10), in the gas phase, and the reactivities of C(60)Fe+ and C(20)H(10)Fe+ have been measured with several small inorganic and organic molecules in helium bath gas at 0.35 Torr using a selected-ion flow tube (SIFT) mass spectrometer. Comparisons with measured reactivities of the bare Fe+ ion indicate that the presence of C(60) and C(20)H(10) leads to enhancements in reactivity at room temperature of up to 5 orders of magnitude. Ligation was the only chemistry observed with D(2), N(2), CO(2), CH(4), C(2)H(2), C(2)H(4), SO(2), C(6)D(6), NH(3), H(2)O, and CO, but other channels were observed to compete with adduct formation in the reactions with N(2)O and O(2). The number of molecules sequentially ligated to the ion was different: up to five molecules of ligand added sequentially to Fe+, up to four molecules of ligand were observed to attach to C(60)Fe+, while only up to three molecules added to C(20)H(10)Fe+. C(60)+ and C(20)H(10)+ were observed to be unreactive toward the same ligands. The kinetic results show the influence of carbonaceous surfaces on metal ion reactivity and are interpreted in terms of the nature of the coordination of Fe+ to the carbonaceous surface. Catalytic effects of the carbonaceous surfaces were identified for the reactions with N(2)O and O(2).