Isolation, characterization of an intermediate in an oxygen atom-transfer reaction, and the determination of the bond dissociation energy.

The synthesis and structure of a phosphine oxide-bound intermediate molecule originating from a dioxo-molybdenum(VI) complex is described. The loss of phosphine oxide has been followed by surface-induced dissociation mass spectrometry that gave the bond dissociation energy of 29.5 (+/- 3.5) kcal/mol. Considering the bond dissociation energy for a Mo=O bond to be 100 kcal/mol, this value suggests that the primary driving force for the reaction is the formation of the intermediate complex.