Hydride Ion Transfer and Isotope Effects in CD4-Silane Ion Molecule Reactions

Hydride ion transfer is identified as an important mechanism in the reactions of methane and deuterated methane primary ions with silane. The pathway for these reactions is shown not to involve the production of a long lived intermediate. However, it is shown that addition reactions proceeding through a long lived intermediate show relatively little isotopic scrambling. Furthermore, it appears that the probability of losing a H atom is very much higher than that for losing a D atom from such an intermediate.