Solvation of copper ions by acetone. structures and sequential binding energies of Cu+(acetone)x, x = 1-4 from collision-induced dissociation and theoretical studies.

Collision-induced dissociation of Cu+(acetone)(x), x = 1-4, with Xe is studied as a function of kinetic energy using guided ion beam mass spectrometry. In all cases, the primary and lowest energy dissociation channel observed is endothermic loss of one acetone molecule. The primary cross section thresholds are interpreted to yield 0 and 298 K bond energies after accounting for the effects of multiple ion-neutral collisions, internal energy of the complexes, and dissociation lifetimes. Density functional calculations at the B3LYP/6-31G* level of theory are used to determine the structures of these complexes and provide molecular constants necessary for the thermodynamic analysis of the experimental data. Theoretical bond dissociation energies are determined from single point calculations at the B3LYP/6-311+G(2d,2p) and MP2(full)/6-311+G(2d,2p) levels, using the B3LYP/6-31G* optimized geometries. The experimental bond energies determined here are in good agreement with previous experimental measurements made in a high-pressure mass spectrometer for the sum of the first and second bond energy (i.e., Cu+(acetone)2 --> Cu+ + 2 acetone) when these results are properly anchored. The agreement between theory and experiment is reasonable in all cases, but varies both with the size of the cluster and the level of theory employed. B3LYP does an excellent job for the x = 1 and 3 clusters, but is systematically low for the x = 2 and 4 clusters such that the overall trends in sequential binding energies are not parallel. In contrast, all MP2 values are somewhat low, but the overall trends parallel the measured values for all clusters. The trends in the measured Cu+(acetone), binding energies are explained in terms of 4s-3d sigma hybridization effects and ligand-ligand repulsion in the clusters.