Ultrafast Proton Transfer and Contact Ion-Pair Formation in Formic Acid Clusters

The ultrafast proton transfer dynamics of homogeneous formic acid clusters (FA)_n, n < 10, are investigated with femtosecond time-resolved mass spectrometry. We monitor the proton transfer pathway following Rydberg state electronic relaxation and find that successful ion pair formation increases logarithmically with cluster size. Ab initio calculations demonstrate similar excitation/relaxation behavior for each cluster, revealing a contact ion pair forms between two molecules composing the cluster before finally a formate anion (HCOO⁻) is dissociated by the probe pulse. The sub-ps time scale for rearrangement and proton transfer increases almost linearly with cluster size, requiring ∼67 fs per additional formic acid molecule and ranging from 213 ± 51 fs for the trimer to 667 ± 116 fs for FA₉. The near-linear trends measured for both rearrangement lifetime and ion pair formation suggest that proton transfer is unlikely in the formic acid dimer but becomes prominent in small clusters.