Reactions of gaseous ions. I. Methane and ethylene (Reprinted from J. Am. Chem. Soc., vol 79, pg 2419, 1957)

At elevated pressures in a mass spectrometer ion source reactions occur bet ween certain ions and the neutral species present. We have studied the vari ous secondary ions formed in methane and ethylene at elevated pressures and have determined the reactions by which they are formed and the rates of th ese reactions. The rates are all extremely fast. The reaction rates have be en treated by classical collision theory and it has been shown that to a fa ir approximation the cross-sections and reaction rate constants can be pred icted from a simple balance of rotational and polarization forces. Copyrigh t (C) 1957 by the American Chemical Society and reprinted by permission of the copyright owner.