A collisional study of some C 60 and C 70 fullerene ions

The high‐energy collision‐induced dissociation (CID) mass spectra of C , C , C , C and C are reported. In all cases, fragmentation occurs by loss of an even number of carbon atoms, in agreement with photodissociation studies of C and C . No charge‐separation reactions are observed for the multiply charged ions. Collision‐induced dissociation of C leads to a slight preference for formation of C , while dissociation of C and C shows a more pronounced preferenced for formation of C and C , respecstively. Under electron‐capture Chemical‐ionization conditions the fullerenes readily capture an electron to form the molecular anions. Collision‐induced dissociation of C and C leads to elimination of 1, 2 and 4 carbon atoms; the elimination of one carbon is unique among larger carbon cluster ions. Charges inversion of the molecular anions leads to formation of the respective molecular cations and fragementation of these cations by loss of an even number of carbon atoms. Formation of C is slightly preferred in the C case, while C is the most abundant ion in the charge inversion mass spectrum of C .