Eur. Phys. J. D 63, 251-254 (2011)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2010-10588-9

Regular Article

Interaction of gold and silver cluster cations with CH₃Br: thermal and photoinduced reaction pathways

Institute of Surface Chemistry and Catalysis, University of Ulm, Albert-Einstein-Allee 47, 89069 Ulm, Germany

^a e-mail: thorsten.bernhardt@uni-ulm.de

Received: 15 October 2010
Received in final form: 14 November 2010
Published online: 14 January 2011

Abstract

The reactions of free, size selected Au_n⁺ (n = 1–3, 5, 7) and Ag₃⁺ clusters with CH₃Br as well as the photodissociation of the resulting complexes at 266 nm were studied in a radio frequency ion trap under multiple collision conditions. CH₃Br was found to interact more strongly with the gold clusters than with the silver clusters. All investigated metal clusters exhibited characteristic size dependent adsorbate coverages. Furthermore, the successive loss of methyl radicals was identified as a major thermal reaction channel of the adsorbed CH₃Br molecules. Photodissociation experiments were performed with the product complexes of the trimer clusters and revealed the strongly preferred light-induced fragmentation of Au₃Br₃⁺ and Ag₃Br₃⁺, respectively, over any other thermal reaction products. However, whereas in the case of the gold cluster complexes the bare Au₃⁺ was exclusively re-formed through laser irradiation, considerable photoinduced metal cluster fragmentation occurred in the case of Ag₃Br₃⁺.