Ionization-Driven Dehydrogenation and Molecular Growth in Gas-Phase Adamantane Clusters
Abstract
We investigate fragmentation and molecular growth induced by keV ions in initially neutral gas-phase adamantane clusters, the simplest diamondoid molecule (Ad, C10H16). Using time-of-flight mass spectrometry in combination with quantum-chemical calculations, we find that intact cluster cations undergo extensive dehydrogenation. We also observe a distinct distribution of singly charged products with masses predominantly between those of the adamantane monomer and dimer cations. We attribute these species to ion-induced growth products and interpret their formation considering the smallest cluster cation, [Ad]2+, using quantum-chemical calculations. Our results demonstrate that ionization strongly reorganizes the dimer geometry, facilitating H2 elimination and intermolecular covalent C--C bond formation. Weakly bound adamantane clusters are thereby transformed into covalently bound carbonaceous species with a strong preference for specific molecular structures. These findings provide new insight into ionization-driven molecular growth in saturated hydrocarbon systems contributing to the understanding of molecular complexification, with implications for chemical physics and astrochemistry.
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BibTeX
@misc{srivastav2026ionizationdriven,
title = {{Ionization-Driven Dehydrogenation and Molecular Growth in Gas-Phase Adamantane Clusters}},
author = {Sumit Srivastav and Per Eng-Johnsson and Raimund Feifel and Alicja Domaracka and Patrick Rousseau and Dariusz G. Piekarski and Sylvain Maclot},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.37385},
eprint = {2609.37385},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.37385},
note = {CC BY-NC-SA 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Ionization-Driven Dehydrogenation and Molecular Growth in Gas-Phase Adamantane Clusters
AU - Sumit Srivastav
AU - Per Eng-Johnsson
AU - Raimund Feifel
AU - Alicja Domaracka
AU - Patrick Rousseau
AU - Dariusz G. Piekarski
AU - Sylvain Maclot
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/29
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.37385
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.37385
AB - We investigate fragmentation and molecular growth induced by keV ions in initially neutral gas-phase adamantane clusters, the simplest diamondoid molecule (Ad, C_10H_16). Using time-of-flight mass spectrometry in combination with quantum-chemical calculations, we find that intact cluster cations undergo extensive dehydrogenation. We also observe a distinct distribution of singly charged products with masses predominantly between those of the adamantane monomer and dimer cations. We attribute these species to ion-induced growth products and interpret their formation considering the smallest cluster cation, [Ad]_2^+, using quantum-chemical calculations. Our results demonstrate that ionization strongly reorganizes the dimer geometry, facilitating H_2 elimination and intermolecular covalent C--C bond formation. Weakly bound adamantane clusters are thereby transformed into covalently bound carbonaceous species with a strong preference for specific molecular structures. These findings provide new insight into ionization-driven molecular growth in saturated hydrocarbon systems contributing to the understanding of molecular complexification, with implications for chemical physics and astrochemistry.
ER -