N++C60 REACTIVE SCATTERING - SUBSTITUTION, CHARGE-TRANSFER, AND FRAGMENTATION

N+ + C60 reactive scattering has been studied over the collision energy range from 1 to 80 eV. Charge transfer, producing C60+ is the dominant low-energy channel. At high collision energies a significant fraction of the charge-transfer products also fragment producing C60-2n+ (n = 1-8). Chemical reactivity of C60 with N+ is low compared to that observed for B+, C+, and O+ and shows evidence of a barrier for N addition. The only product ion channels which are unambiguously driven by C-N bond formation are C59N+ and C59+. As the collision energy is increased, the C59N+ product ion decomposes by CN loss. This is in contrast to the analogous C59O+ species which decays largely by C2 loss. Chemical bond formation is also implicated in the C60-2n+ ''fragmentation'' channels, since their appearance potentials are lower than expected for simple dissociative charge transfer.