exoergicity

This is probably due to dissociation induced by the large exoergicity from charge transfer between species that differ greatly in ionization potential.

1981: S. J. Buelow, D. R. Wornsnop, and D. R. Herschbach, Chemistry Department, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Generation of “bastard” molecular ions from van der Waals clusters: Arₙ(C₂Cl₄)ₘ⁺ ions, suspected interlopers in collections of solar neutrinos (published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, volume 78, № 12; December, 1981)

1985: Rodney J. Bartlett, ed, Comparison of Ab Initio Quantum Chemistry With Experiment for Small Molecules For the reaction exoergicity the Davidson correction has little effect. There is also a problem with the theoretical description of the kinetics of the addition reaction. A Lindemann-Hinshelwood mechanism is typically used to ...

The extent of fragmentation is determined by the internal energy of the ions at formation, which is contributed by the exoergicity of the reaction in addition to the thermal energy available. Thus, more acidic reagents and higher temperatures tend to induce more fragmentation in the negative ion mode, while less acidic reagents tend to produce more fragmentation in the negative ion mode.

1990, Alfred L. Yergey, Liquid Chromatography / Mass Spectrometry: Techniques and Applications