Publications by authors named "R A O'Hair"

Rationale: Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) like perfluorooctanoic acid have persistent environmental and physiological effects. This study investigates the degradation of CFCO (n = 1-7) with neutral radical fragmentation under oxygen attachment dissociation (OAD). Unique fragments absent from collision-induced dissociation (CID) are observed.

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Analytes are sampled from both solution phase and gas-phase environments during the ESI process, and thus, the mass spectrum that is measured can reflect both solution and gas-phase conditions. In the gas-phase regime, ion-molecule reactions can influence the types of ions that are observed. Herein, the synergistic effects of a Lewis acid (Mg) and background water are shown to lead to protonolysis of two of the B-C bonds of the tetraphenylborate ion in the gas phase, giving rise to different ions at different reaction times in ESI-MS/MS experiments in a linear ion trap mass spectrometer.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study focuses on the N-protomer of 4-aminobenzoic acid, investigating the gas-phase chemistry of the 4-(carboxyphenyl)trimethylammonium ion formed through electrospray ionization (ESI).
  • - Researchers synthesized and purified the compound, conducting experiments using mass spectrometry to observe fragmentation patterns, primarily involving the loss of methyl radicals.
  • - Findings indicate that the free carboxylic acid group in the compound shows low reactivity towards various neutral reagents, aligning with theoretical calculations that suggest specific reaction mechanisms.
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Methide transfer reactions play important roles in many areas of chemistry, including the Grignard reaction, in the transmetalation steps of metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions, and in the generation of cationic metal polymerization catalysts. Methide affinities (MAs) are the key thermodynamic quantity that underpin such reactions, and yet comprehensive methide affinity scales are poorly developed. Here, B3LYP-D3BJ/def2-TZVP calculations are used to calculate the energy changes (MAs) for cations (MeZ → Z + Me), neutrals (MeY → Y + Me), and anions (MeX → X + Me) derived from permethyl species of all group s and p elements.

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