Threshold collision-induced dissociation of Sr2+ (H2 O) x complexes (x=1-6): an experimental and theoretical investigation of the complete inner shell hydration energies of Sr2+

The sequential bond energies of Sr2+(H2O)x complexes, where x=1-6, are determined by threshold collision-induced dissociation using a guided ion beam tandem mass spectrometer equipped with an electrospray ionization source. The electrospray source produces an initial distribution of Sr2+(H2O)x complexes, where x=6-9. Smaller Sr2+(H2O)x complexes, where x=1-5, are accessed using a recently developed in-source fragmentation technique that takes place in the high pressure region of a rf-only hexapole ion guide. This work constitutes the first experimental study for the complete inner shell of any multiply charged ion. The kinetic energy dependent cross sections are determined over a wide energy range to monitor all possible dissociation products and are modeled to obtain 0 and 298 K binding energies for loss of a single water molecule. These binding energies decrease monotonically for the Sr2+(H2O) complex to Sr2+(H2O)6. Our experimental results agree well with previous literature results obtained by equilibrium and kinetic studies for x=5 and 6. Because there has been limited theory for the hydration of Sr2+, we also present an in-depth theoretical study on the energetics of the Sr2+(H2O)x systems by employing several levels of theory with multiple effective core potentials for Sr and different basis sets for the water molecules.