Journal ArticleAn ion beam apparatus is employed to study the formation of the cobalt carbene ion, CoCH2+. This ion is produced in the endothermic reaction of cobalt ions with ethene and cyclopropane and in an exothermic reaction with ethylene oxide. A model is proposed to account for the dependence of experimental cross sections on relative kinetic energy for the endothermic reactions. Using this model to interpret the experimental results, a bond dissociation energy D°(Co+-CH2 ) = 3.7+0.3 eV is derived
