Mono- and multi-EMF ions of MnC2m+ (M = La, Y, n = 1-6, 50 ≤ 2 m ≤ 194) were generated by laser ablation of graphene and the corresponding metal salts and detected by FT-ICR mass spectrometry. The results have shed light on the formation and generation of some new EMF species. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Metallofullerene ions of M@C(2n)+ (M = K, Rb, Cs, 2n = 80-220) were generated by laser ablation of graphene and corresponding metal salts. Compared with previous results of alkaline earth metals, the yields of EMF ions are generally lower. However, for large-sized EMF ions, the relative intensities of EMF ions to their corresponding fullerene ions I(M@C(2n)+)/ I(C(2n)+) generally increase with the increase in cluster sizes, which is opposite to the trend observed for alkaline earth metals.

Medium-sized phosphorus cluster cations were generated by laser ablation of red phosphorus and investigated by the method of collision-induced dissociation mass spectrometry. Experimental results show that the primary dissociation channels of phosphorus cluster cations of P(+) 2m+1 (6 ≤ m ≤ 11) are all characterized by the loss of P4 unit. For larger cluster cations, their dissociation pathways were more complex. For those magic cations of P(+) 8k+1 observed previously, their dissociation pathways progressively change from the loss of P4 unit (for k = 3) to the loss of P8 unit (for k = 4, 5). A new dissociation pathway characterized by the loss of P10 unit was also indentified for larger cations of P(+) 8k+1 (6 ≤ k ≤ 8). Theoretical calculation also shows that, for cations of P(+) 2m+1 (4 ≤ m ≤ 10), the dissociation channel characterized by the loss of P4 unit is more energetically favorable than other dissociation channels, which is in good agreement with the experimental results.

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The geometric and thermodynamic stability of the M2C100 (M = La, Y, and Sc) series was systematically investigated using density functional theory calculations on the level of B3LYP/6-31G(d) ∼ Lanl2dz.