Reactions between ions and
reactive neutrals in the gas phase at near thermal energy conditions are
feasible, provided that means exist to trap ions for a couple of seconds for collisions between ions and reactive neutrals to occur. The ion cyclotron resonance
(ICR) technique provides an excellent environment for such gas phase
ion-molecule reactions to take place, giving also the opportunity to
correlate both reactant and product ions and to determine sum formulae
with ultra-high resolution. Moreover, ICR can also enable structure elucidation by several techniques like collision induced dissociation
(CID) experiments. Acceleration of some reactive ions can also induce
endothermic ion-molecule reactions to occur. The authors give a
systematic overview of gas phase ion chemistry of non-metal main group elements, covering a wide spectrum of reactions, as well as their rate constant determinations and thermodynamic ion energetics.