Gas-phase reaction of CeV₂O₇⁺with C₂H₄: Activation of C-C and C-H bonds

The reactivity of metal oxide clusters toward hydrocarbon molecules can be changed, tuned, or controlled by doping. Cerium-doped vanadium cluster cations CeV₂O₇⁺ are generated by laser ablation, mass-selected by a quadrupole mass filter, and then reacted with C₂H₄ in a linear ion trap reactor. The reaction is characterized by a reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Three types of reaction channels are observed: 1) single oxygen-atom transfer, 2) double oxygen-atom transfer, and 3) C=C bond cleavage. This study provides the first bimetallic oxide cluster ion, CeV₂O₇⁺, which gives rise to C=C bond cleavage of ethene. Neither Ce_xO_y^± nor V_xO_y^± alone possess the necessary topological and electronic properties to bring about such a reaction.