Chemistry and Structure of the CH3O2(+) Product of the O2(+) + CH4 Reaction

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/j100403a043

The CH3O2(+) product ion of the thermal energy reaction between O2(+) and CH4 has been studied in reaction with a number of neutral molecules.The reactivity pattern demonstrates very convincingly that the structure of the ion is methylene hydroperoxy cation, CH2OOH(+), in contrast to previous reports that the ion is protonated formic acid, HC(OH)2(+) or HC(O)OH2(+).From these and other data the heat of formation of this ion is determined to be between 182 and 188 kcal/mol.