Electron transfer to phenyl boronic acid upon potassium collisions

We present negative ion formation from collisions of neutral potassium atoms with neutral phenylboronic acid C₆H₅B(OH)₂ molecules in the lab frame energy range from 10 to 1000 eV. From the assignment of the negative ion time-of-flight (ToF) mass spectra, BO^- is the main fragment detected at energies below 100 eV, however above 100 eV BO₂ ^- is the predominant fragment accounting on average for 30% of the total anion yield for collision energies above 250 eV. The rich fragmentation pattern results in the formation of more than thirty fragment anions, with twenty boron containing ions.