The role of electron transfer in the fragmentation of phenyl and cyclohexyl boronic acids

In this study, novel measurements of negative ion formation in neutral potassium-neutral boronic acid collisions are reported in electron transfer experiments. The fragmentation pattern of phenylboronic acid is comprehensively investigated for a wide range of collision energies, i.e., from 10 to 1000 eV in the laboratory frame, allowing some of the most relevant dissociation channels to be probed. These studies were performed in a crossed molecular beam set up using a potassium atom as an electron donor. The negative ions formed in the collision region were mass analysed with a reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer. In the unimolecular decomposition of the temporary negative ion, the two most relevant yields were assigned to BO⁻ and BO₂ ⁻. Moreover, the collision-induced reaction was shown to be selective, i.e., at energies below 100 eV, it mostly formed BO⁻, while at energies above 100 eV, it mostly formed BO₂ ⁻. In order to further our knowledge on the complex internal reaction mechanisms underlying the influence of the hybridization state of the boron atom, cyclohexylboronic acid was also investigated in the same collision energy range, where the main dissociation channel yielded BO₂ ⁻. The experimental results for phenyl boronic acid are supported by ab initio theoretical calculations of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMOs) accessed in the collision process.