Formation of neutral molecules of potential stellar interest by neutralisation of negative ions in a mass spectrometer. The application of experiment and molecular modelling in concert.

This paper is a modified version of a lecture which describes the synthesis, structure and reactivity of some neutral molecules of stellar significance. The neutrals are formed in the collision cell of a mass spectrometer following vertical Franck-Condon one electron oxidation of anions of known bond connectivity. Neutrals are characterised by conversion to positive ions and by extensive theoretical studies at the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVDZ//B3LYP/6-31G(d) level of theory. Four systems are considered in detail, viz (i) the formation of linear C(4) and its conversion to the rhombus C(4), (ii) linear C(5) and the atom scrambling of this system when energised, (iii) the stable cumulene oxide CCCCCO, and (iv) the elusive species O(2)C-CO. This paper is not intended to be a review of interstellar chemistry: examples are selected from our own work in this area.