Reactions of Neutral Vanadium Oxide Clusters with Methanol

Reactions of neutral vanadium oxide clusters with methanol and ethanol in a fast-flow reactor are investigated by time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Single-photon ionization through soft X-ray (46.9 nm, 26.5 eV) and vacuum ultraviolet (VUV, 118 nm, 10.5 eV) lasers is employed to detect both neutral cluster distributions and reaction products. In order to distinguish isomeric products generated in the reactions VmOn + CH3OH, partially deuterated methanol (CD3OH) is also used as a reactant in the experiments. Association products are observed for most vanadium oxide clusters in reaction with methanol. Products VOD, V2O3D, V3O6D, and V4O9D are observed for oxygen-deficient vanadium oxide clusters reacting with methanol, while oxygen-rich and the most stable clusters can extract more than one hydrogen atom (H/D) from CD3OH to form products VO2DH0,1, V2O4DH0,1, V2O5DH0,1, V3O7DH0,1, and V4O10DH0,1. Species VO2(CH3)2, VO3(CH3)2, V2O5(CH3)2, V3O7(CH3)2, and V3O8(CH3)2 are identified as some of the main products g...