EXPERIMENTS AIMED AT GENERATING THE LONG-SOUGHT-AFTER ETHYLENEDIONE (O=C=C=O) BY NEUTRALIZATION-REIONIZATION MASS-SPECTROMETRY

While O=C=C=O.+ is easily accessible from different sources and can be structurally characterized by means of collisional activation, all at tempts failed to successfully neutralize C2O2.+ to the long-sought-aft er ethylenedione O=C=C=O. A comparison with previously published theor etical studies of the geometries Of C2O2.+ , C2O2.- and C2O2 clearly i ndicates that vertical electron transfer is not likely to result in th e formation of an observable C2O2 neutral, in keeping with our neutral ization-reionization results.