Application of Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry to the Study of Ionic Clusters: Investigation of Cluster Ions with Stable Sizes and Compositions

Stable cluster sizes and compositions have been investigated for cations and anions of ionic bond clusters such as alkali halides and transition metal oxides by ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS). Usually structural information of ions can be obtained from collision cross sections determined in IM-MS. In addition, we have found that stable ion sizes or compositions were predominantly produced in a total ion mass spectrum, which was constructed from the IM-MS measurement. These stable species were produced as a result of collision induced dissociations of the ions in a drift cell. We have confirmed this result in the sodium fluoride cluster ions, in which cuboid magic number cluster ions were predominantly observed. Next the stable compositions, which were obtained for the oxide systems of the first row transition metals, Ti, Fe, and Co, are characteristic for each of the metal oxide cluster ions.