Study on Structures and Reactions of Molecules, Supramolecules, and Clusters by Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

Ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS), which combines ion mobility spectrometry with mass spectrometry, has become one of the standard analytical methods by obtaining structural information as collision cross sections. This method was applied to gas-phase atomic cluster ions and supramolecular ions in addition to simple organic molecules by the authors for the past two decades. After noting the principles of this method, details were shown for the experimental apparatuses and analytical processes. As a result of the studies, three topics were presented: (1) Structures and adsorption reactions of transition metal oxide cluster cations, (2) structures and isomerization reaction of the complexes between crown ethers with guest ions, and (3) intramolecular proton transfer reactions of organic molecules induced by a collision with a single molecule.