The decomposition of a triply‐charged metastable positive ion of biphenyl

The transition, [C12H10]+3→[C11H7]+2 + [CH3]+, has been detected both in the ion kinetic energy spectrum and in the mass spectrum of biphenyl. The width of a resulting ‘metastable peak’ has been measured by setting the magnetic field to accept [C11H7]+2 ions and scanning the high voltage at fixed electric sector voltage. The kinetic energy released in the decomposition, calculated from the peak width, amounted to 4.5 eV. With the assumption that this energy release is due entirely to charge separation, the charge distribution in [C12H10]+3 is discussed. The derivation of the equations used to calculate the energy released is given in the Appendix.