Proposed Proton-Transfer Mechanism for the Initial Decomposition Steps of BTATz.

The first steps in the gas-phase decomposition mechanism of N3,N6-bis (1 H-tetrazol-5-yl)-1,2,4,5-tetrazine-3,6-diamine, BTATz, anions and the kinetic isotope effects in these processes were studied using combined multistage mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and computational techniques. Two major fragmentation processes, the exergonic loss of nitrogen molecules and the endergonic loss of hydrazoic acid, were identified. The observation of a primary isotope effect supported by calculations suggests that the loss of a nitrogen molecule from the tetrazole ring involves proton migration, either to or within the terazole ring, as a rate-determining step. The fragmentation of a hydrazoic acid occurs through an asymmetrical retro-pericyclic reaction. Calculations show the relevance of these mechanisms to neutral BTATz. Our findings may contribute to the understanding of decomposition routes in these nitrogen-rich energetic materials and allow tailoring their reactivity and decomposition pathways for better control of performance.

First principles prediction of an insensitive high energy density material.

A new high performance yet insensitive explosive is proposed, based on an extensive computational study of tris(tetrazolyl)amine in the solid state and in the gas phase. The calculations for the solid state employ the PBE density functional with empirical dispersion correction while the gas phase calculations use the higher level of B3LYP and MP2. Two stable crystalline structures of tris(tertrazolyl)amine were located belonging to P1 and P21 space groups. The crystal structures obtained reveal that solid tris(tertrazolyl)amine is organized in layers with a very small interlayer spacing, due to π stacking, as well as significant inter and intra-molecular hydrogen bonding. Application of these results to the calculation of the detonation velocity and pressure indicate high performance for both phases, especially the P21 phase. At the same time the small value found for the interlayer spacing and the significant hydrogen bonding suggest relatively high stability. These results point to a promising new explosive material with a balance between high performance and insensitivity.

Towards a fully conjugated, double-stranded cycle: a mass spectrometric and theoretical study.

The two compounds, 1 and 5, are investigated by means of collision-induced dissociation experiments by using ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry and other mass spectrometric techniques as to their ability to act as precursors for the fully unsaturated double-stranded target compound 2. These experiments are complemented by flask-type pyrolyses of 5, the products of which are analyzed by mass spectrometry. For 1, no conditions were found under which the expected molecular ion of 2 at m/z 932 appeared, however, for its derivative 5 this was possible. This interesting finding is not in contradiction with the chemical structure of the long sought for compound 2 but calculations suggest that this compound may have isomerized into one where the conjugation is interrupted by hydrogen shift from the solubilizing alkyl chains into the cycle's perimeter. The key driving force for such an isomerization would be the considerable relief of strain energy.

Tris(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl)methyl carbenium ion for charge derivatization of amines and amino acids.

Primary and secondary alkyl amines substitute readily one of the para-methoxy substituents of tris(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl)methyl carbenium ion. With this rapid process, the preparation of permanently charged positive derivatives of amines, amino acids and small C-protected peptides is achieved. This is utilized here to facilitate the matrix assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) analysis of these compounds.

Radical induced fragmentation of amino acid esters using triphenylcorrole(CuIII) complexes.

A triphenylcorrole(CuIII) complex is covalently bound to amino acid esters at the nitrogen atom. As a result radical anions are generated, inducing the occurrence of side-chain reactions under CID conditions. Almost all of the amino acid esters that were studied show abundant ions that correspond to fragmentation at the alpha carbon either with or without the loss of the alkoxy ester moiety. Distinctive CID spectra were also recorded for leucine and isoleucine complexes. Initial results with short peptides are also shown.

Anion-binding properties of the tripyrrolemethane group: a combined experimental and theoretical study.

Tripyrrolemethane- and bistripyrrolemethane-containing systems were recently reported to be efficient and selective hosts for anions. Nevertheless, the basic intrinsic properties of tripyrrolemethane as a ligand for anions have not yet been explored. Here we report the study of the anion-binding properties of the tripyrrolemethane group. We applied a combined experimental and theoretical approach to determine the affinity of the tripyrrolemethane system for different anions in the gas phase, in solution and in the crystalline state. In the crystal, the tripyrrolemethane group forms a number of different complexes with the bromide ion, some involving the participation of more than one ligand species. Despite the very similar basicity of fluoride and dihydrogen phosphate, the tripyrrolemethane ligand exhibits a clear preference for the fluoride anion in solution, which indicates an anion-binding system and not merely deprotonation. Although the affinity of the tripyrrolemethane ligand for other ions was negligible in solution, gas-phase studies show that complexation with larger halide ions is favoured over complexation with fluoride.

Benzene loss from trityl cations--a mechanistic study.

Triarylmethyl cations eliminate substituted benzene in the gas phase, upon activation. The mechanism of this process has been studied using deuterium labeling, substituent effects, and density functional theory calculations. It is shown that this apparently simple dissociation is in fact a complicated stepwise process that involves several consecutive hydride shifts. The combination of experimental evidence and computational results leads to a clear description of transition states and reaction intermediates.

Development of mass spectrometric method for analysis of cyclic nitramine explosives DTIW and HNIW.

Mass spectrometric (MS) methods are used for the analysis of two novel nitramine explosives-hexanitrohexaazaisowurzitane (HNIW) and 4,10-dinitro-2,6,8,12-tetraoxa-4,10-diazaisowurzitane (DTIW). The methods include electrospray (ESI) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization techniques for liquid chromatography/MS (LC/MS), chemical ionization for direct introduction (DCI), and gas chromatography/MS (CI-GC/MS). It is found that HNIW (438 Da) is detectable using both positive and negative modes of DCI and in the negative mode ESI-MS. Several anions were found to complex with HNIW, e.g., CF3CO2-, Cl-, Br-, I-, NO3-, and NO2-. On the other hand, DTIW could only be detected using positive DCI and CI-GC/MS, where an MH+ ion (m/z 263) was formed. The fragmentation pathways of the two nitramines were further studied by MS2 experiments. Apparently, the main fragmentation pathway of the MH+ ion of DTIW involves the loss of nitrous acid. Several anion adducts of HNIW that were studied dissociate to afford neutral HNIW and the added anions. However, Cl-, Br-, I-, and NO2- afford a series of fragments that resulted from the dissociation of the isowurzitane structure. For these anions, limit of detection was also found. To understand some of the HNIW fragmentation pathways, DFT calculations were used.

Formation and stability of oxocarbenium ions from glycosides.

Structural, protecting group and leaving group effects in the formation of oxocarbenium intermediates were studied in the gas phase. It is found that significant stabilization of oxocarbenium cations is achieved by protecting groups that interact with the cationic center via neighboring group participation despite the electron-withdrawing character of these moieties. On the other hand, ethereal protecting groups do not facilitate the formation of oxocarbenium intermediates. The experimental findings are supported by DFT calculations that show the following order of stabilization by the group adjacent to the cationic center: RCO > SiR(3) > R, where R is an alkyl group. This indicates that the SN1-like mechanism that is commonly proposed for this reaction is not always valid. Moderate leaving group effect is also detected in a series of thioaryl glucopyranosides.

Anomeric distinction and oxonium ion formation in acetylated glycosides.

Collision-induced dissociation of ammonium-cationized alpha and beta acetyl pyranosidic isomers were studied and stereochemical dependence of the reactivity towards elimination of acetic acid from the anomeric position was found. It is shown that isomers that contain trans diacetyloxy groups at positions 1 and 2 of the pyranoside are more reactive, allowing anomeric distinction according to the relative abundance of the oxocarbenium product ion of this reaction in the spectrum. The higher reactivity of trans isomers is rationalized by neighboring group assistance that is possible only in the trans configuration. DFT calculations indicate that the lesser energetic reaction path occurs in an ammonium-cationized trans diequatorial 2,3-diacetoxy tetrahydropyran that was used as a model in order to study this process theoretically. It is also found that the configuration at position 4 of the carbohydrate plays a major role in the rate of formation and stability of oxocarbenium ions.

Remarkable amine-TFA self assembly.

Supramolecular assemblies that are formed between amines and trifluoroacetic acid were studied using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Distinctive association behavior of primary, secondary, and tertiary amines with trifluoroacetic acid upon identical experimental conditions is observed and indicates that steric effects dominate in the formation of these protonated clusters. Extraordinary complexation behavior is observed in the case of R-(+)-alpha-methylbenzylamine and 4-tert-butyl-cyclohexylamine that form high-order clusters. The strong relation between stereochemistry and assembly results in the specific association characteristics of trans 4-tert-butyl-1-phenylcyclohexylamine when compared with the cis isomer. The cis isomer gives rise to a highly abundant [M(4)TFA(3) + H](+) ion (M = amine molecule, TFA = trifluoroacetic acid), as observed for other primary amines. However, the trans isomer generates higher [M(n)TFA(m) + H](+) cluster ions, the largest and most abundant being an [M(7)TFA(6) + H](+) ion. Collision induced dissociation spectra that were recorded for several [M(n)TFA(m) + H](+) cluster ions typically show the consecutive losses of M.TFA moieties. Density functional theory calculations indicate that the highly abundant [M(4)TFA(3) + H](+) clusters are macrocycles and support the formation of these structures with TFA and not with acetic acid.

Homolytic cleavages in pyridinium ions, an excited state process.

The favored fragmentation pathway for protonated and alkylated pyridinium cations of the general formula p-XC(6)H(4)CH(2)CH(2)CH=CH Py(+)R (R=H, Me; Py=pyridine) is a C-C homolytic cleavage. The tendency to form radicals is higher for alkylated pyridinium cations than for the protonated ones that can also afford closed-shell products. Theoretical calculations show that the singlet-triplet gap for transient structures with an elongated benzylic C-C bond is very low and the formation of radicals may result from mixing of these states. In addition to the notable substituent effect on the fragmentation efficiency of the cations under study, calculated results show a clear substituent effect on the singlet-triplet transitions. We also observe that triphenylphosphonium cations behave notably different. Thus, the pyridinium system that contains a p-chloro benzyl moiety loses a benzyl radical readily while the analogous triphenylphosphonium cation is very stable under the same conditions.

Ion-neutral complexes formation and 1,3-proton transfer in the chemical ionization of alkylcyclohexyl benzoates.

CI, CID, labelling experiments and DFT calculations are used for the elucidation of the mechanism for the decomposition of cyclohexyl benzoates, which proceeds through 1,3-H shift and two equilibrating ion-neutral complexes.

Substituent effect and multisite protonation in the fragmentation of alkyl benzoates.

The dissociation of protonated alkyl benzoates (para H, CN, OMe and NO(2)) into protonated benzoic acids and alkyl cations was studied in the gas phase. It was found that the product ratio depends on the substituent at the para position of the phenyl ring. The substituent effect is probably the result of the formation of an ion-neutral complex intermediate that decomposes to an ion and a neutral, according to the relative proton affinities of the two moieties. The experimental results and theoretical calculations indicate that the favored protonation site in these compounds is the ester's carbonyl and that proton transfer from the phenyl ring to the ester group is very likely to occur under chemical ionization conditions. It is most probable that the carbonyl protonated form is a common intermediate in the fragmentation process, regardless of the protonation site.