Published in

SAGE Publications, European Journal of Mass Spectrometry, 4(9), p. 245-255, 2003

DOI: 10.1255/ejms.558

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Is allylphosphine a carbon or a phosphorus base in the gas phase?

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

The gas-phase basicity of allylphosphine (2-propenylphosphine) was measured by means of Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometry techniques. A complete survey of the allylphosphine-H+ potential energy surface, carried out through the use of high-level G2(MP2) and B3LYP/6-311+G(3df,2p) calculations, allows us to conclude that, under low-pressure, low-energy ICR conditions, the interaction between the protonated reference base, BrefH+, and allylphosphine leads to a complex in which BrefH+ attaches to the phosphorus atom of allylphosphine, where the electrostatic potential is strongly attractive. Hence, in the first step only the phosphorus protonated species should be formed. Its isomerization to yield the Cβ-protonated form, which is the global minimum of the potential energy surface, implies a very high activation barrier that cannot be overtaken under normal experimental ICR conditions. Therefore, the main conclusion of our study is that allylphosphine behaves as a phosphorus base in the gas phase, even though the Cβ-protonated structure is the most stable protonated species. We have also shown that both Cβ- and Cγ-protonation triggers a cyclization of the system. An analysis of the bonding of the different protonated species as compared with that of the neutral system is presented.