Experimental bond dissociation energies of benzylpyridinium thermometer ions determined by threshold-CID and RRKM modeling

•BDE of benzylpyridinium ions were determined by TCID measurements and RRKM modeling.•Commercial QhQ enables relative measurements of critical energies.•Critical energy differences are in agreements with high-level theoretical values.•Fragmentation processes relate to kinetic rather than energetic bottleneck.