The acrylonitrile dimer ion: A study of its dissociation via self-catalysis, self-protonation and cyclization into the pyrimidine radical cation

Large energy barriers prohibit the rearrangement of solitary acrylonitrile ions, CH2CHCN+, into their more stable hydrogen-shift isomers CH2CCNH+ or CHCH–CNH+. This prompted us to examine if these isomerizations occur by self-catalysis in acrylonitrile dimer ions. Such ions, generated by chemical ionization experiments of acrylonitrile with an excess of carbon dioxide, undergo five dissociations in the μs time frame, as witnessed by peaks at …