We report here that electrospray ionization (ESI) of uranyl nitrate dissolved in a mixture of H2O and acetone causes the formation of doubly charged, gas-phase complexes containing UO2 2+ “solvated” by neutral ligands. Using mild conditions, the dominant species observed in the ESI mass spectrum contained the uranyl ion coordinated by five acetone ligands, consistent with proposed most-stable structures in the solution phase. However, chemical mass shift data, ion peak shapes, and a plot of fractional ion abundance versus ion desolvation temperature suggest that in the gas phase, and under the ion-trapping and ejection conditions imposed, complexes with five equatorial acetone ligands are less stable than those with four. Multiple-stage tandem mass spectrometry showed that uranyl-acetone complexes dissociate via the elimination of acetone ligands and through pathways that involve reactive collisions with adventitious H2O in the ion trap. At no point was complete removal of ligands to generate the UO2 2+ ion achieved. ESI was also used to generate complex ions of similar composition and ligand number but different charge state for an investigation of the influence of complex charge on the tendency to add ligands by gas-phase association reactions. We found that the addition of a fifth acetone molecule to complexes initially containing four equatorial ligands is more facile for the doubly charged species. The singly charged complex shows a significant back-reaction to eliminate the fifth ligand, suggesting an intrinsic difference in the preferred coordination number for the U(VI) and U(V) complexes in the gas phase.

Electrospray ionization was used to generate doubly charged complex ions composed of the uranyl ion and nitrile ligands. The complexes, with general formula [UO2(RCN)n]2+, n = 0-5 (where R=CH3-, CH3CH2-, or C6H5-), were isolated in an ion-trap mass spectrometer to probe intrinsic reactions with H2O. For these complexes, two general reaction pathways were observed: (a) the direct addition of one or more H2O ligands to the doubly charged complexes and (b) charge-reduction reactions. For the latter, the reactions produced uranyl hydroxide, [UO2OH], complexes via collisions with gas-phase H2O molecules and the elimination of protonated nitrile ligands.

Multiple-stage tandem mass spectrometry was used to characterize the dissociation pathways for complexes composed of (1) the uranyl ion, (2) nitrate or hydroxide, and (3) water or alcohol. The complex ions were derived from electrospray ionization (ESI) ϩ . The abundance of the species was greater than expected based on previous experimental measurements of the (slow) hydration rate for UO 2 ϩ when stored in the ion trap. To account for the production of the hydrated product, a reductive elimination reaction involving reactive collisions with water in the ion trap is proposed. T he speciation and reactivity of uranium is a topic of sustained interest because species-dependent chemistry [1] controls processes ranging from nuclear fuel processing [2] to mobility and fate in the geologic subsurface [3,4]. The solution chemistry of uranium is dominated by the uranyl dication, UO 2 2ϩ , which is known to form complexes with a range of ligands [1]. Specific interaction with solvent will significantly influence the physico-chemical behavior of the uranyl ion and its complexes, and this has motivated investigations of complex composition and stability using infrared spectroscopy and extended X-ray absorption fine structure [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Unfortunately, explicit control over the interactions of solvent and nonsolvent ligands with the uranyl ion is difficult, which makes the study of species-dependent uranium behavior complicated. To gain a better understanding of the intrinsic interactions between different uranyl species and solvent, we have begun an investigation of uranyl-anion complexes in the gas phase using ion-trap mass spectrometry (IT-MS). Several recent reports have demonstrated that intrinsic metal and metal complex chemistry can be investigated by the (controlled) addition of reagent gas to an ion trap [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22], or by way of the presence of H 2 O and other small molecule contaminants within the He bath gas used to collisionally cool ions and improve trapping efficiency [23][24][25]. The reactions of uranium ions in the gas phase have been the subject of several earlier investigations. Studies by , and by Schwarz and coworkers [30] have probed the reactions between U ϩ and UO ϩ and organic compounds such as alkanes and alcohols. Armentrout and Beauchamp [31] investigated the oxidation of U ϩ using small molecules such as O 2 , CO, CO 2 , COS, and

Theoretical calculations suggest a novel two-electron three-atom bonding scheme for complexation of O 2 with U(V) compounds, leading to the stabilization of superoxo complexes in the side-on (eta (2)) configuration. This binding motif is likely to play an important role in the oxidative processes involving trans-uranium compounds having valence 5f phi electrons.

Gas-phase complexes containing dioxouranium(V) cations ([UO(2)](+)) ligated with two or three sigma-donating acetone ligands reacted with dioxygen to form [UO(2)(A)(2,3)(O(2))](+), where A is acetone. Collision-induced dissociation studies of [UO(2)(A)(3)(O(2))](+) showed initial loss of acetone, followed by elimination of O(2), which suggested that O(2) was bound more strongly than the third acetone ligand, but less strongly than the second. Similar behavior was observed for complexes in which water was substituted for acetone. Binding of dioxygen to [UO(2)](+) containing zero, one, or four ligands did not occur, nor did it occur for analogous ligated U(IV)O(2) or U(VI)O(2) ions. For example, only addition of acetone and/or H(2)O occurred for the U(VI) species [UO(2)OH](+), with the ligand addition cascade terminating in formation of [UO(2)OH(A)(3)](+). Similarly, the U(IV) species [UOOH](+) added donor ligands, which produced the mixed-ligand complex [UOOH(A)(3)(H(2)O)](+) as the preferred product at the longest reaction times accessible. Since dioxygen normally functions as an electron acceptor, an alternative mode for binding dioxygen to the cationic U(V)O(2) center is indicated that is dependent on the presence of an unpaired electron and donor ligands in the uranyl valence orbitals.

Desferrioxamine (DEF) is a trihydroxamate siderophore typical of those produced by bacteria and fungi for the purpose of scavenging Fe(3+) from environments where the element is in short supply. Since this class of molecules has excellent chelating properties, reaction with metal contaminants such as actinide species can also occur. The complexes that are formed can be mobile in the environment. Because the natural environment is extremely diverse, strategies are needed for the identification of metal complexes in aqueous matrices having a high degree of chemical heterogeneity, and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) has been highly effective for the characterization of siderophore-metal complexes. In this study, ESI-MS of solutions containing DEF and either UO(2)(2+), Fe(3+) or Ca(2+) resulted in generation of abundant singly charged ions corresponding to [UO(2)(DEF - H)](+), [Fe(DEF - 2H)](+) and [Ca(DEF - H)](+). In addition, less abundant doubly charged ions were produced. Mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (MS/MS) studies of collision-induced dissociation (CID) reactions of protonated DEF and metal-DEF complexes were contrasted and rationalized in terms of ligand structure. In all cases, the most abundant fragmentation reactions involved cleavage of the hydroxamate moieties, consistent with the idea that they are most actively involved with metal complexation. Singly charged complexes tended to be dominated by cleavage of a single hydroxamate, while competitive fragmentation between two hydroxamate moieties increased when the doubly charged complexes were considered. Rupture of amide bonds was also observed, but these were in general less significant than the hydroxamate fragmentations. Several lower abundance fragmentations were unique to the metal examined: abundant loss of H(2)O occurred only for the singly charged UO(2)(2+) complex. Further, NH(3) was eliminated only from the singly charged Fe(3+) complex; this and fragmentation of C-C and C-N bonds derived from neither the hydroxamate nor the amide groups suggested that Fe(3+) insertion reactions were competing with ligand complexation. In no experiments were coordinating solvent molecules observed, attached either to the intact complexes or to the fragment ions, which indicated that both intact DEF and its fragments were occupying all of the coordination sites around the metal centers. This conclusion was based on previous experiments that showed that undercoordinated UO(2)(2+) and Fe(3+) readily added H(2)O and methanol in the ESI quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer that was used in this study.

The intrinsic hydration of three monopositive uranyl-anion complexes (UO 2 A) ϩ (where A ϭ acetate, nitrate, or hydroxide) was investigated using ion-trap mass spectrometry (IT-MS). The relative rates for the formation of the monohydrates [(UO 2 A)(H 2 O)] ϩ , with respect to the anion, followed the trend: Acetate Ն nitrate ӷ hydroxide. This finding was rationalized in terms of the donation of electron density by the strongly basic OH Ϫ to the uranyl metal center, thereby reducing the Lewis acidity of U and its propensity to react with incoming nucleophiles, viz., H 2 O. An alternative explanation is that the more complex acetate and nitrate anions provide increased degrees of freedom that could accommodate excess energy from the hydration reaction. The monohydrates also reacted with water, forming dihydrates and then trihydrates. , for which recent theoretical studies [5][6][7][8] have suggested that strong interactions between the cation and solvent molecules, with significant charge transfer, cause the solvating species to behave like equatorial ligands. Therefore, specific interaction with solvent is likely to influence the physico-chemical behavior of the uranyl ion and its complexes in the environment. Unfortunately, explicit control over the interactions of solvent and non-solvent ligands with the uranyl ion is difficult, which makes the study of species-dependent uranium behavior complicated. To gain a better understanding of the intrinsic interactions between different uranium species and solvent, we have turned to investigations of uranyl-anion complexes in the gas phase. Recent studies have shown that ion-trap mass spectrometry can be used to probe intrinsic metal and metal-complex chemistry by exposing metal species to reagent gases deliberately added to the ion trap [9 -20], or to adventitious H 2 O present in the He bath gas used to collisionally cool ions and improve trapping efficiency [21][22][23][24]. Further motivating the present study is the fact that ion traps will shortly be used to characterize actinide speciation in samples from radioactive waste disposal sites, and a concise understanding of actinide behavior will be critical for correctly interpreting environmental data [25].We recently demonstrated that electrospray ionization (ESI) and multiple stage tandem mass spectrometry (MS) can be used to generate and characterize "solvated", gas-phase complexes featuring the uranyl ion coordinated by hydroxide, nitrate or a series of alkoxides [26]. In the pilot study reported here, ESI was used to produce gas-phase ions from solutions containing uranyl nitrate or uranyl acetate in deionized H 2 O. The dominant species generated by ESI were those having

Electrospray ionization was used to generate mono‐positive gas‐phase complexes of the general formula [UO2A(S)n]+ where A = OH, Cl, Br, I or ClO4, S = H2O, CH3OH or CH3CH2OH, and n = 1–3. The multiple‐stage dissociation pathways of the complexes were then studied using ion‐trap mass spectrometry. For H2O‐coordinated cations, the dissociation reactions observed included the elimination of H2O ligands and the loss of HA (where A = Cl, Br or I). Only for the Br and ClO4 versions did collision‐induced dissociation (CID) of the hydrated species generate the bare, uranyl–anion complexes. CID of the chloride and iodide versions led instead to the production of uranyl hydroxide and hydrated UO. Replacement of H2O ligands by alcohol increased the tendency to eliminate HA, consistent with the higher intrinsic acidity of the alcohols compared to water and potentially stronger UO2O interactions within the alkoxide complexes compared to the hydroxide version. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.