Fast Atom Bombardment Mass Spectrometry of Metal Cluster Compound NEt_4V_2Fe_2S_4(Me_2dtc)_5(Me_2dtc=S_2CNMe_2)

The paper reports two degradation patterns of metal cluster V2Fe2S4(Me2dtc)5-in FABMS: (1)the cluster skeleton is preserved but stepwisely lost the ligand Me2dtc or other fragment NMe2；(2)the cubane-like cluster V2Fe2S4(Me2dtc)5- is cracted into two sub-cluster fragment ions along the weaker metal -sulphur bonds in the cubane skeleton. These FABMS also exhibit fragment ion Fe (Me2dtc)5 resulting from the re-combination reactions of fragment species.