Mass spectral studies of metal chelates. V. Mass spectra and appearance potentials of some fluorine-substituted acetylacetonates

The mass spectra of the hexafluoroacetylacetonates (hfacac) and trifluoroacetylacetonates (tfacac) of Al(III), Cr(III), Fe(III), Fe(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) are reported. The main features of the spectra are discussed. Compared with the spectra of the acetylacetonates (acac), substitution of CF3 for CH3 in these complexes leads to more extensive fragmentation of the molecular ions. For example, ions corresponding to loss of •CF3 radicals are more abundant than those corresponding to loss of •CH3 radicals. The appearance potentials (a.p.'s) of the molecular ions and, where possible, of fragment ions formed from the molecular ion by loss of •CF3, •CH3, or ligand radicals are reported. The a.p.'s of the molecular ions are more sensitive to the nature of the ligand than to the metal. Thus, for the metal chelates studied here the a.p.'s of the molecular ions from ML2 and ML3 (L stands for ligand) were 9.95 ± 0.25 V for L = hfacac, 9.05 ± 0.35 V for L = tfacac, and 8.3 ± 0.35 V for L = acac. The energy required to dissociate a •CF3 or •CH3 radical from the molecular ion is sensitive to the nature and valency of the metal M, being low (relatively) for Al(III) and Fe(III), and high (relatively) for Cr(III) (inferred) and Fe(II). This variation is discussed in terms of the effect of substituent, and of interaction of metal d orbitals with the ligands.