Ion-molecule reactions in perdeuteriomethane

Ion cycoltron resonance techniques were used to measure absolute rate constants for the reactions (1) CD4+ + CD4 → CD5+ + CD5 and (2) CD3+ + CD4 → C2D5+ + D2. Rate coefficients deduced from the appearance of product ions and disappearance of reactant ions were identical within experimental precision, confirming the assumption that these are the only significant reactions of thermal energy CD4+ and CD3+, respectively. The magnitudes of the rate constants, k1 = 1.1 × 10−9 cm3 mol−1 · sec−1 and k2 = 1.2 × 10−9 cm3 mol−1 · sec−1 are consistent with the simple polarization theory of ion-molecule reactions and with previous measurements for ordinary and perdeuteriomethane.