Abstract
Microhydrated methylene blue cations, MB+(H2O) n , are produced in an electrospray ion source and their size-distributions are measured as a function of the source temperature. A series of MB+(H2O) n ions is observed up to n ≃ 60. A striking feature observed in the mass spectra is that the series of hydrated ions starts at n = 4; intensities of n = 1–3 are extremely suppressed. The absence of n = 1–3 ions is well explained by the energetics concerning evaporation processes of water molecules, based on stable structures and the binding energies of MB+(H2O) n ions calculated by DFT calculations up to n = 5. MB+(H2O) n ions for n > 4 evaporate a single water molecule sequentially, while MB+(H2O)4 tends to fragment into MB+ and (H2O)4 rather than MB+(H2O)3 and an H2O molecule. We have observed a clear magic peak at n = 24, which strongly suggests that the MB+(H2O)24 ion is formed by attaching a neutral (H2O)20 cage onto an MB+(H2O)4 ion.
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Sato, T., Majima, T., Hashimoto, K. et al. Microhydration of the methylene blue cation in an electrospray ion source. Eur. Phys. J. D 63, 189–194 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2010-10526-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2010-10526-y