IONIZATION-POTENTIALS AND REACTIVITY OF COINAGE METAL-CLUSTERS

The ionization potentials of several homoatomic and heteroatomic coinage metal clusters have been determined utilizing charge-transfer bracketing and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) mass spectrometry. The clusters studied were Ag(n), Au(n), Cu(m), and Ag(k)Cu(l), where n = 2,3,5, m = 2,3, and k and l = 1,2. Atomic ionization potentials were also verified for each of the above metals as a test of the bracketing method. This work represents one of the first measurements of adiabatic ionization potentials for any of the above clusters. A number of additional reactions were observed between several of the charge-transfer agents and metal cluster ions, including some which resulted in metal-metal bond cleavage.