Electron capture dissociation of a self-assembled tetranuclear metallosupramolecular complex in the gas phase

A self-assembled tetranuclear metallosupramolecular complex was brought into the gas phase by electrospray ionization (ESI), mass-selected, and fragmented via infrared multi-photon dissociation (IRMPD) and electron capture dissociation (ECD) in a Fourier-transform ion-cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer (FT-ICR). The resulting spectra were compared. The ECD spectra show some identical fragments to IRMPD which suggest similar fragmentation pathways, but also different fragments which can be assigned to radical cations. Further experiments were performed to investigate the location of the captured electron and results hint at the formation of complexes containing a bipyridyl anion.