Reactions of V₄O₁₀⁺ cluster ions with simple inorganic and organic molecules

The reactivity of mass-selected V₄O₁₀⁺ cluster ions toward hydrocarbon molecules including CH₄, C ₂H₄, and C₂H₆ was explored in the references case by case. Herein, further systematic studies on the reactions of V₄O₁₀⁺ with simple inorganic and organic molecules (H₂, CO, CH₄, C₂H₂, C ₂H₄, and C₂H₆) are presented. The vanadium oxide cluster ions are prepared by laser ablation and the V ₄O₁₀⁺ clusters are selected by a quadrupole mass filter and interacted with the simple molecules in a hexapole reaction cell. The reactant and product ions are detected by a reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Hydrogen and oxygen atom transfer reactions are observed. Density functional theory calculations are carried out for the reaction mechanism of V₄O₁₀⁺ + H₂. The oxygen atom transfer (OAT) channel V₄O₁₀⁺ + H ₂ → V₄O₉⁺ + H₂O is much more exothermic than the hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) channel V ₄O₁₀⁺ + H₂ → V ₄O₁₀H⁺ + H whereas the former is less favorable than the later in terms of the reaction kinetics. The computational result is in good agreement with the experiment that the HAT (H₂ splitting) rather than the OAT (water formation) is observed for V₄O ₁₀⁺ + H₂.