Dissociation dynamics of highly charged molecular ions of FC(O)SCl

The occurrence of highly charged molecular ions in fluorocarbonylsulfenyl chloride, FC(O)SCl, has been studied using tunable synchrotron radiation and multicoincidence techniques, which include photoelectron-photoion coincidence (PEPICO) and photoelectron-photoion-photoion coincidence (PEPIPICO) time of flight (TOF) mass spectrometry. Fragmentation patterns of the PEPICO spectra at the excitation energies around the carbon, oxygen, and fluorine K levels denote the presence of double ionized molecular fragments such as OCS2+, CS2+, and atomic fragments as C2+, O2+, Cl2+, and S2+, which should be originated in fragmentation processes arising from at least triple charged FC(O)SCl. The analysis of PEPIPICO spectra reveals several double coincidence signals involving double- and mono-charged ions, indicating that triple or even higher ionization processes effectively occur after the excitation. The influence of Coulomb interactions could cause the occurrence of atomization processes as the main fragmentation channels.