Gas-phase chemistry of the sulfur hexafluoride fragment ions SFn+ (n = 0-5) and SFn2+ (n = 2,4). Ab initio thermochemistry of novel reactions of S+ and SF+

A systematic investigation was conducted on the gas-phase reactivity of the singly charged sulfur hexafluoride fragment ions SFn+ (n = 0-5) and the doubly charged ions 32SFn2+ (n = 2.4) with O2 and the common oxygenated netural gases, H2O, CO, CO2 and N2O. Whereas the higher homologues and the doubly charged ions undergo mainly charge exchange or dissociation by F loss, novel reactions were observed for the lower homologues SF+ and S+. It is likely that the ease of dissociation of SF4+ will prevent most of its associative reactions.