We demonstrate a novel method to ionize molecules or molecular clusters by proton transfer at temperatures below 1 K. The method yields nascent ions and largely eliminates secondary reactions, even...
Properties of clusters often depend critically on the exact number of atomic or molecular building blocks, however, most methods of cluster formation lead to a broad, size distribution and cluster intensity anomalies that are often designated as magic numbers. Here we present a novel approach of breeding size-selected clusters via pickup of dopants into multiply charged helium nanodroplets. The size and charge state of the initially undoped droplets and the vapor pressure of the dopant in the pickup region, determines the size of the dopant cluster ions that are extracted from the host droplets, via evaporation of the helium matrix in a collision cell filled with room temperature helium or via surface collisions. Size distributions of the selected dopant cluster ions are determined utilizing a high-resolution time of flight mass spectrometer. The comparison of the experimental data, with simulations taking into consideration the pickup probability into a shrinking He droplet due to evaporation during the pickup process, provides a simple explanation for the emergence of size distributions that are narrower than Poisson.
We report a novel method to reversibly attach and detach hydrogen molecules to positively charged sodium clusters formed inside a helium nanodroplet host matrix. It is based in the controlled...
Neon cluster ions Nes + grown in pre-ionized, mass-to-charge selected helium nanodroplets (HNDs) reveal a strong enrichment of the heavy isotope 22 Ne that depends on cluster size s and the experimental conditions. For small sizes the enrichment is much larger than previously reported for bare neon clusters grown in nozzle expansions and subsequently ionized. The enrichment is traced to the massive evaporation of neon atoms in a collision cell that is used to strip helium from the HNDs. We derive a relation between the enrichment of 22 Ne in the cluster ion and its corresponding depletion factor F in the vapor phase. The value thus found for F is in excellent agreement with a theoretical expression that relates isotopic fractionation in two-phase equilibria of atomic gases to the Debye temperature. Furthermore, the difference in zero-point energies between the two isotopes computed from F agrees reasonably well with theoretical studies of neon cluster ions that include nuclear quantum effects in the harmonic approximation. Another fitting parameter provides an estimate for the size si of the precursor of the observed Nes + . The value is in satisfactory agreement with the size estimated by modeling the growth of Nes + , and with lower and upper limits deduced from other experimental data. On the other hand, neon clusters grown in neutral HNDs that are subsequently ionized by electron bombardment exhibit no statistically significant isotope enrichment at all. The finding suggests that the extent of ionization-induced dissociation of clusters embedded in HNDs is considerably smaller than for bare clusters.
Physisorption on planar or curved graphitic surfaces or aromatic rings has been investigated by various research groups, but in these studies, the substrate was usually strictly rigid. Here, we report a combined experimental and theoretical study of helium adsorption on cationic hexaphenylbenzene (HPB), a propeller-shaped molecule. The orientation of its propeller blades is known to be sensitive to the environment, with substantial differences between the molecule in the gas phase and in the crystalline solid. Mass spectra of He$$_{n}$$ n HPB$$^{+}$$ + , synthesized in helium nanodroplets, indicate enhanced stability for ions containing $$n = 2, 4, 14, 28, 42, 44$$ n = 2 , 4 , 14 , 28 , 42 , 44 , or 46 helium atoms. Path-integral molecular dynamics simulations reveal a significant dependence of the dissociation energy on the details of the HPB geometry. Good agreement between the experimental data and calculated dissociation energies is obtained, provided that the symmetry of HPB$$^{+}$$ + is reduced from $$D_{6}$$ D 6 to $$D_{2}$$ D 2 , such a lower symmetry being suggested from quantum chemical calculations as arising upon electron removal. Graphic Abstract
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