Ion-ion reactions in the gas phase: Proton transfer reactions of protonated pyridine with multiply charged oligonucleotide anions.

Isolated triply and doubly charged anions of the single-stranded deoxynucleotide 5'-d(AAAA)-3' were allowed to undergo ion-ion proton transfer reactions with protonated pyridine cations within a quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer. Sufficiently high ion number densities and spatial overlap of the oppositely charged ion clouds could be achieved to yield readily measurable rates. Three general observations were made: (1) the ion-ion reaction rate constants were estimated to be 10(- (7 - 8)) cm(3) ion(-1) s(-1); (2) the ion-ion reaction rates were found to be dependent on the reactant ion number density, which could be controlled by both the reactant ion number and the pseudopotential well depth, and (3) very little fragmentation, if any, was observed, as might normally be expected with highly exothermic proton transfer reactions.