Collision-induced dissociation mass spectrometry of the ammonium ions 4a and 4b results in the formation of the seleniranium ion 5, the structure and purity of which were verified using gas-phase infrared spectroscopy coupled to mass spectrometry and gas-phase ion-mobility measurements. Ion-molecule reactions between the ion 5 (m/z = 261) and cyclopentene, cyclohexene, cycloheptene, and cyclooctene resulted in the formation of the seleniranium ions 7 (m/z = 225), 6 (m/z = 239), 8 (m/z = 253), and 9 (m/z = 267), respectively. Further reaction of seleniranium 6 with cyclopentene resulted in further π-ligand exchange giving seleniranium ion 7, confirming that direct π-ligand exchange between seleniranium ion 5 and cycloalkenes occurs in the gas phase. Pseudo-first-order kinetics established relative reaction efficiencies for π-ligand exchange for cyclopentene, cyclohexene, cycloheptene. and cyclooctene as 0.20, 0.07, 0.43, and 4.32. respectively. DFT calculations at the M06/6-31+G(d) level of theory provide the following insights into the mechanism of the π-ligand exchange reactions; the cycloalkene forms a complex with the seleniranium ion 5 with binding energies of 57 and 62 kJ/mol for cyclopentene and cyclohexene, respectively, with transition states for π-ligand exchange having barriers of 17.8 and 19.3 kJ/mol for cyclopentene and cyclohexene, respectively.

Ultraviolet probe ion and far-infrared spectroscopic results for barium borate glasses indicate the existence of two types of cation-hosting site differing in electron density, that is, basicity. The pattern is similar to the sodium borate glass system, which has the same average theoretical optical basicity trend. However, the basicity span for the bipositive ions is less than for the monopositive, and this is explained in terms of the partial charge neutralization effected by the oxide(-II)/metal ion interaction, roughly in accordance with Pauling's electroneutrality principle. The results explain abnormal optical basicity values reported previously for studies involving electrolysis of glass and the effect of temperature.

Application of the variable oxygen probe to derivatives of (4-methoxycarbonyl)cubylmethanol 11 demonstrated a strong response of C-OR bond distance to the electron demand of the OR substituent, consistent with an enhanced σ-donor ability of the strained C-C bonds of cubane. The extent of cubane donor ability was found to be superior to an unstrained donor 13, comparing data extracted from the Cambridge Structural Database (T. W. Cole, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Chicago, 1966), but weaker than the previously studied cyclopropane donors. Structural evidence is also found for σCC-π*CO interactions in these structures.

An o-nitro-O-aryl oxime was observed to exhibit a short O⋯O contact, which exhibited characteristics consistent with a chalcogen bond.

The gas-phase reactivity of the vanadium hydroxides [VO(2)(OH)(2)](-) and [V(2)O(5)(OH)](-) toward methanol was examined using a combination of ion-molecule reactions (IMRs) and collision-induced dissociation (CID) in a quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer. Isotope-labeling experiments with CD(3)OH, (13)CH(3)OH, and CH(3)(18)OH were used to confirm the stoichiometry of ions and the observed sequence of reactions. The experimental data were interpreted with the aid of density functional theory calculations, carried out at the B3LYP/SDD6-311++G** level of theory. While [VO(2)(OH)(2)](-) is unreactive, [V(2)O(5)(OH)](-) undergoes a metathesis reaction to yield [V(2)O(5)(OCH(3))](-). The DFT calculations reveal that the metathesis reaction of methanol with [VO(2)(OH)(2)](-) suffers from a barrier of +0.52 eV (relative to separated reactants) but that the reaction of [V(2)O(5)(OH)](-) with methanol readily proceeds via addition/elimination reactions with both transition states being below the energy of the separated reactants. CID of [V(2)O(5)(OCH(3))](-) (m/z 213) yields three ions arising from activation of the methoxo ligand: [V(2), O(6), C, H](-) (m/z 211); [V(2), O(5), H](-) (m/z 183); and [V(2), O(4), H](-) (m/z 167). Additional experiments and DFT calculations suggest that these ions arise from losses of H(2), formaldehyde and the sequential losses of H(2) and CO(2), respectively. The use of an (18)O-labeled methoxo ligand in [V(2)O(5)((18)OCH(3))](-) (m/z 215) showed the competing losses of H(2)C(16)O and H(2)C(18)O and [H(2) and C(16)O(18)O] and [H(2) and C(16)O(2)], highlighting that (16)O/(18)O exchange between the methoxo ligand and the vanadium oxide occurs prior to the subsequent fragmentation of the ligand. DFT calculations reveal that a key step involves hydrogen atom transfer from the methoxo ligand to the oxo ligand of the same vanadium center, producing the intermediate [V(2)O(4)(OH)(OCH(2))](-) containing a ketyl radical ligand and a hydroxo ligand. This intermediate can either undergo CH(2)O loss, or the ketyl radical can couple with an oxo ligand of the adjacent vanadium center, producing [V(2)O(3)(μ(2)-O(2)CH(2))](-), which is a key intermediate in the (16)O/(18)O scrambling and in the H(2) loss channel.