The reduction and oxidation reactions of [Ru(CN)2(bpy)2] observed in liquid secondary ion mass spectra with a thioglycerol matrix

Abstract

Liquid secondary ion mass spectra (LSIMS) of [Ru(CN)2(bpy)2] were measured with thioglycerol containing 15.6 wt% of glycerol. An isotopic cluster in the region of the molecular ion (M+) was observed with a mass range of more than 10 in LSIMS mass spectra. Isotopic peaks of the molecular ion and quasi-molecular ions, that were formed by the redox reaction of the molecule during the ionization process, were contained in the isotopic cluster. The identification of chemical species in the cluster was performed by the least-squares method. The difference between the calculated and observed relative intensities was small. The values of standard deviation obtained in the calculation were less than 0.01 in six runs out of 11. The main chemical species in the cluster were M+, (M + H)+, (M + 2H)+ and (M + 3H)+. The results regarding these chemical species agreed with the results regarding the characteristics of the complex in the solution obtained by the measurement of redox potentials.