Production and isolation of ligated metal(IV)-oxo ions by tandem mass spectrometry

High valent metal(IV)-oxo species, \[M(=O)(Melm)(n)(OAc)](+) (M = Mn-Ni, MeIm = 1-methylimidazole, n = 1-2), which are relevant to biology and oxidative catalysis, were produced and isolated in gas-phase reactions of the metal(II) precursor ions \[M(MeIm)(n)(OAc)](+) (M = Mn-Zn, n = 1-3) with ozone. The precursor ions \[M(MeIm)(OAc)](+) and \[M(MeIm)(2)(OAc)](+) were generated via collision-induced dissociation of the corresponding \[M(MeIm)(3)(OAc)](+) ion. The dependence of ozone reactivity on metal and coordination number is discussed. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Unusual cross-ring SN2 reactions of [MH]− ions of methoxyacetanilides

Deprotonated o, m-, and p-methoxyacetanilide show pronounced peaks in their collision-induced tandem mass spectra (MS/MS) produced by losses of the elements of C2H6. It is proposed that this reaction is a 'cross-ring' internal S(N)2 reaction involving an incipient methyl anion. For example, p-CH3O-C6H4-N--CO-CH3--> [(p.CH3O-C6H4-N=C=O)CH3-]--> O---C6H4-N=C=O+C2H6.

Bisphenol A degradation enhanced by air bubbles via advanced oxidation using in situ generated ferrous ions from nano zero-valent iron/palygorskite composite materials

Novel nano zero-valent iron/palygorskite composite materials prepared by evaporative and centrifuge methods are tested for the degradation of bisphenol A in an aqueous medium. A systematic study is presented which showed that nano zero-valent iron material has little effect on bisphenol A degradation. When hydrogen peroxide was added to initiate the reaction, some percentage of bisphenol A removal (∼20%) was achieved; however, with the aid of air bubbles, the percentage removal can be significantly increased to ∼99%. Compared with pristine nano zero-valent iron and commercial iron powder, nano zero-valent iron/palygorskite composite materials have much higher reactivity towards bisphenol A and these materials are superior as they have little impact on the solution pH. However, for pristine nano zero-valent iron, it is difficult to maintain the reaction system at a favourable low pH which is a key factor in maintaining high bisphenol A removal. All materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, elemental analysis, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The optimum conditions were obtained based on a series of batch experiments. This study has extended the application of nano zero-valent iron/palygorskite composites as effective materials for the removal of phenolic compounds from the environment.

Formation of neutral molecules of potential stellar interest by neutralisation of negative ions in a mass spectrometer - The application of experiment and molecular modelling in concert

This paper is a modified version of a lecture which describes the synthesis, structure and reactivity of some neutral molecules of stellar significance. The neutrals are formed in the collision cell of a mass spectrometer following vertical Franck-Condon one electron oxidation of anions of known bond connectivity. Neutrals are characterised by conversion to positive ions and by extensive theoretical studies at the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVDZ//B3LYP/6-31G(d) level of theory. Four systems are considered in detail, viz (i) the formation of linear C-4 and its conversion to the rhombus C-4, (ii) linear C-5 and the atom scrambling of this system when energised, (iii) the stable cumulene oxide CCCCCO, and (iv) the elusive species O2C-CO. This paper is not intended to be a review of interstellar chemistry: examples are selected from our own work in this area. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of ions and atomic hydrogen in plasma-assisted growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes

The growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) in plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) is studied using a surface diffusion model. It is shown that at low substrate temperatures (≤1000 K), the atomic hydrogen and ion fluxes from the plasma can strongly affect nanotube growth. The ion-induced hydrocarbon dissociation can be the main process that supplies carbon atoms for SWCNT growth and is responsible for the frequently reported higher (compared to thermal chemical vapor deposition) nanotube growth rates in plasma-based processes. On the other hand, excessive deposition of plasma ions and atomic hydrogen can reduce the diffusion length of the carbon-bearing species and their residence time on the nanotube lateral surfaces. This reduction can adversely affect the nanotube growth rates. The results here are in good agreement with the available experimental data and can be used for optimizing SWCNT growth in PECVD.

Ion-acoustic waves in a complex plasma with negative ions

A wave propagation in a complex dusty plasma with negative ions was considered. The relevant processes such as ionization, electron attachment, diffusion, positive-negative ion recombination, plasma particle collisions, as well as elastic Coulomb and inelastic dust-charging collisions were taken self-consistently. It was found that the equilibrium of the plasma as well as the propagation of ion waves were modified to various degrees by these effects.

Charging and trapping of macroparticles in near-electrode regions of fluorocarbon plasmas with negative ions

Charging and trapping of macroparticles in the near-electrode region of fluorocarbon etching plasmas with negative ions is considered. The equilibrium charge and forces on particles are computed as a function of the local position in the plasma presheath and sheath. The ionic composition of the plasma corresponds to the etching experiments in 2.45 GHz surface-wave sustained and 13.56 MHz inductively coupled C4F8+Ar plasmas. It is shown that despite negligible negative ion currents collected by the particles, the negative fluorine ions affect the charging and trapping of particulates through modification of the sheath/presheath structure.

Ion-acoustic waves in a complex plasma with negative ions

Negative ions and negatively charged micro- to nano-meter sized dust grains are ubiquitous in astrophysical as well as industrial processing plasmas. The negative ions can appear in electro-negative plasmas as a result of elementary processes such as dissociative or non-dissociative electron attachment to neutrals. They are usually rather small in number, and in general do not affect the overall plasma behavior. On the other hand, since the dust grains are almost always highly negative, even in small numbers they can take up a considerable proportion of the total negative charge in the system. The presence of dusts can affect the characteristics of most collective processes of the plasma since the charge balance in both the steady and dynamic states can be significantly altered. Another situation that often occurs is that the electron number density becomes small because of their absorption by the dust grains or the discharge walls. In this case the negative ions in the plasma can play a very important role. Here, a self-consistent theory of linear waves in complex laboratory plasmas containing dust grains and negative ions is presented. A comprehensive model for such plasmas including source and sink effects associated with the presence of dust grains and negative ions is introduced. The stationary state of the plasma as well as the dispersion and damping characteristics of the waves are investigated. All relevant processes, such as ionization, diffusion, electron attachment, negative-positive ion recombination, dust charge relaxation, and dissipation due to electron and ion elastic collisions with neutrals and dust particles, as well as charging collisions with the dusts, are taken into consideration.

Suppression of cluster ions during particle formation events in the atmosphere

Cluster ions and charged and neutral nanoparticle concentrations were monitored using a neutral cluster and air ion spectrometer (NAIS) over a period of one year in Brisbane, Australia. The study yielded 242 complete days of usable data, of which particle formation events were observed on 101 days. Small, intermediate and large ion concentrations were evaluated in real time. In the diurnal cycle, small ion concentration was highest during the second half of the night while large ion concentrations were a maximum during the day. The small ion concentration showed a decrease when the large ion concentration increased. Particle formation was generally followed by a peak in the intermediate ion concentration. The rate of increase of intermediate ions was used as the criteria for identifying particle formation events. Such events were followed by a period of growth to larger sizes and usually occurred between 8 am and 2 pm. Particle formation events were found to be related to the wind direction. The gaseous precursors for the production of secondary particles in the urban environment of Brisbane have been shown to be ammonia and sulfuric acid. During these events, the nanoparticle number concentrations in the size range 1.6 to 42 nm, which were normally lower than 1x104 cm-3, often exceeded 5x104 cm-3 with occasional values over 1x105 cm-3. Cluster ions generally occurred in number concentrations between 300 and 600 cm-3 but decreased significantly to about 200 cm-3 during particle formation events. This was accompanied by an increase in the large ion concentration. We calculated the fraction of nanoparticles that were charged and investigated the occurrence of possible overcharging during particle formation events. Overcharging is defined as the condition where the charged fraction of particles is higher than in charge equilibrium. This can occur when cluster ions attach to neutral particles in the atmosphere, giving rise to larger concentrations of charged particles in the short term. Ion-induced nucleation is one of the mechanisms of particle formation in the atmosphere, and overcharging has previously been considered as an indicator of this process. The possible role of ions in particle formation was investigated.

Measurement of small ions near a busy motorway

Combustion sources are well-known sources of electrical ions (Howard, J.B. et al. 1973). Motor vehicles emissions are one of the main sources of ions in urban environments. The presence of charged particles in motor vehicle emissions has been known for many years (Kittelson, 1986; Yu et al, 2004; Jung and Kittelson, 2005). Although these particles are probably charged by the attachment of air ions, there is very little information on the nature, sign and magnitude of the small ions (diameter < 1.6 nm) emitted by motor vehicles and/or present by the sides of roads.

Dispersion of corona ions downwind from a high-voltage power line

Corona discharge is responsible for the small ions found near overhead power lines, and these are capable of modifying the ambient electrical environment such as the dc electric field at ground level (Fews, Wilding et al. 2002). Once produced, small ions quickly attach to aerosol particles in the air, producing ‘large ions’ which are roughly 1 nm to 1 µm in diameter. However, very few studies have reported measurements of ions produced by power lines and its impact on particle charge concentrations. In this present study, the measurements were conducted as a function of normal downwind distance from a 275kV power line for investigating the effect of corona ions on air ions, aerosol particle charge concentration and dc e-filed.

Synthesis and study of conductivity behaviour of blended conducting polymer films irradiated with swift heavy ions of silicon

In recent times, blended polymers have shown a lot of promise in terms of easy processability in different shapes and forms. In the present work, polyaniline emeraldine base (PANi-EB) was doped with camphor sulfonic acid (CSA) and combined with the conducting polymer polyfluorene (PF) as well as the insulating polymer polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to synthesize CSA doped PANi-PF and PANi-PVC blended polymers. It is well known that PANi when doped with CSA becomes highly conducting. However, its poor mechanical properties, such as low tensile, compressive, and flexural strength render PANi a non-ideal material to be processed for its various practical applications, such as electromagnetic shielding, anti-corrosion shielding, photolithography and microelectronic devices etc. Thus the search for polymers which are easily processable and are capable of showing high conductivity still continues. PANi-PVC blend was prepared, which showed low conductivity which is limiting factor for certain applications. Therefore, another processable polymer PF was chosen as conducting matrix. Conducting PF can be easily processed into various shapes and forms. Therefore, a blend mixture was prepared by using PANi and PF through the use of CSA as a counter ion which forms a "bridge" between the two polymeric components of the inter-polymer complex. Two blended polymers have been synthesized and investigated for their conductivity behaviour. It was observed that the blended film of CSA doped PANi-PVC showed a room temperature electrical conductivity of 2.8 × 10-7 S/cm where as the blended film made by CSA doped PANi with conducting polymer PF showed a room temperature conductivity of 1.3 × 10-5 S/cm. Blended films were irradiated with 100 MeV silicon ions with a view to increase their conductivity with a fluence ranging from 1011 ions to 1013 per cm2 from 15 UD Pelletron accelerator at NSC, New Delhi.

The role of autogenic halide gas in the production of metal borides

Synthesis of metal borides is typically undertaken at high temperature using direct combinations of elemental starting materials[1]. Techniques include carbothermal reduction using elemental carbon, metals, metal oxides and B2O3[2] or reaction between metal chlorides and boron sources[3]. These reactions generally require temperatures greater than 1200oC and are not readily suitable for an industrial setting nor scalable to bulk production.

Charged particles and cluster ions produced during cooking activities

Previous studies showed that a significant number of the particles present in indoor air are generated by cooking activities, and measured particle concentrations and exposures have been used to estimate the related human dose. The dose evaluation can be affected by the particle charge level which is usually not considered in particle deposition models. To this purpose, in this paper we show, for the very first time, the electric charge of particles generated during cooking activities and thus extending the interest on particle charging characterization to indoor micro-environments, so far essentially focused on outdoors. Particle number, together with positive and negative cluster ion concentrations, was monitored using a condensation particle counter and two air ion counters, respectively, during different cooking events. Positively-charged particle distribution fractions during gas combustion, bacon grilling, and eggplant grilling events were measured by two Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer spectrometers, used with and without a neutralizer. Finally, a Tandem Differential Mobility Analyzer was used to measure the charge specific particle distributions of bacon and eggplant grilling experiments, selecting particles of 30, 50, 80 and 100 nm in mobility diameter. The total fraction of positively-charged particles was 4.0%, 7.9%, and 5.6% for gas combustion, bacon grilling, and eggplant grilling events, respectively, then lower than other typical outdoor combustion-generated particles.