Evidence for the production of propene ion in the gas phase. Reaction of ionized dichlorocarbene with acetone

Experimental evidence for the production of propene ion in the gas phase reaction of ionized dichlorocarbene with acetone is provided owing to the use of an original hybrid tandem mass spectrometer of sector–quadrupole–sector configuration. Ionized dimethylcarbene is a transient intermediate that rapidly rearranges into its more stable isomer. Relative stabilities between both isomeric forms in different electronic states are evaluated using B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) computations.