Collision-induced dissociation and density functional study of the structures and energies of cyclic C2nN5- clusters

In this paper, we report mass spectrometry studies on C2nN5- cluster ions by collision-induced dissociation (CID). The mass-selected cluster ions were dissociated by collision with a crossed nitrogen beam and the fragment ions were mass analyzed in a secondary mass spectrometer. Characterization of the species as cyano-substituted, planar five-membered rings is supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Based on the analysis of the experimental and computational results, cluster structures, energies, and stabilities are discussed. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(00)01921-8].