Electron impact fragmentation

It is well known that the electron-impact ionization mass spectrum contains both the parent and fragment ions. The observed fragmentation pattern can be usefiil in identifying the parent molecule. This ion fragmentation also occurs with mass spectrometric detection of reaction products and can cause problems with identification of the products. This problem can be exacerbated in the mass spectrometric detection of reaction products because diese internally excited molecules can have very different fragmentation patterns than themial molecules. The parent molecules associated with the various fragment ions can usually be sorted out by comparison of the angular distributions of the detected ions [8]. 

The base peak in the mass spectrum of the LM free metal-ligand ion and the fragmentation patterns of this parent ion are of particuliar significance since they illustrate the effect of coordination upon the properties of the thiazole ligand. The free thiazole fragments upon electron impact by two major routes (Scheme 86 also cf. Section II. 6). 

Unlike the case of benzene in which ionization involves loss of a tt electron from the ring electron impact induced ionization of chlorobenzene involves loss of an elec tron from an unshared pair of chlorine The molecular ion then fragments by carbon-chlorine bond cleavage... 

Understanding how molecules fragment upon electron impact permits a mass spec trum to be analyzed m sufficient detail to deduce the structure of an unknown compound Thousands of compounds of known structure have been examined by mass spectrome try and the fragmentation patterns that characterize different classes are well docu mented As various groups are covered m subsequent chapters aspects of their fragmentation behavior under conditions of electron impact will be descnbed... 

Section 13 22 Mass spectrometry exploits the information obtained when a molecule is ionized by electron impact and then dissociates to smaller fragments Pos itive ions are separated and detected according to their mass to charge (m/z) ratio By examining the fragments and by knowing how classes of molecules dissociate on electron impact one can deduce the structure of a compound Mass spectrometry is quite sensitive as little as 10 g of compound is sufficient for analysis... 

The mass spectrum is a fingerprint for each compound because no two molecules are fragmented and ionized in exactly the same manner on electron-impact ionization. In reporting mass spectra the data are normalized by assigning the most intense peak (denoted as base peak) a value of 100. Other peaks are reported as percentages of the base peak. 

Physical Chemical Characterization. Thiamine, its derivatives, and its degradation products have been fully characterized by spectroscopic methods (9,10). The ultraviolet spectmm of thiamine shows pH-dependent maxima (11). H, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectra show protonation occurs at the 1-nitrogen, and not the 4-amino position (12—14). The H spectmm in D2O shows no resonance for the thiazole 2-hydrogen, as this is acidic and readily exchanged via formation of the thiazole yUd (13) an important intermediate in the biochemical functions of thiamine. Recent work has revised the piC values for the two ionization reactions to 4.8 and 18 respectively (9,10,15). The mass spectmm of thiamine hydrochloride shows no molecular ion under standard electron impact ionization conditions, but fast atom bombardment and chemical ionization allow observation of both an intense peak for the patent cation and its major fragmentation ion, the pyrimidinylmethyl cation (16). 

The electron impact mass spectrometric fragmentations of (E)-3- and ( )-4-styryl-pyridazines show that the intensity ratio of the M and (M -1)" ions, the general degree of fragmentation and the elimination pathways of nitrogen are the most characteristic features distinguishing between the two isomeric compounds (81JHC255). 

The behaviour under electron impact of IV- and C-trimethylsilylpyrazoles (mono-, di-and tri-substituted) has been studied by Birkofer et al. (740MS 8)347). Loss of a methyl radical followed by loss of HCN is the most common fragmentation feature of these compounds. When more than one trimethylsilyl group is present, a neutral fragment CaHgSi is expelled. Mass spectrometry of pyrazolium salts has been studied by Larsen etal. (8i OMS377, 830MS52). 

In addition to fragmentation on electron impact (Section 4.04.1.3.8), most of the references in this section involve photochemical studies and an excellent account of these has been given by Lablache-Combier (B-76PH123). 

Electron impact mass spectrometry has been employed to study the fragmentation patterns of isoxazolylmethyl- and bis(isoxazolylmethyl)-isoxazoles and the results are in agreement with proposed pathways (79AC(R)8l). Electron impact studies of nitrostyryl isoxazole (6) show fragmentation in a variety of ways. The standard loss of NO2 from the molecular ion... 

The chemical potentials and free energies of the 2-isoxazolines have also been studied and the electron impact and chemical ionization mass spectra determined (77MI41614). Fragmentation pathways and retrocycloadditions of various derivatives were discussed in these reports. 

Electron impact fragmentation studies on 1,2-benzisoxazoles and benzoxazole indicate that isomerization takes place before degradation. Shape analysis and metastable ion abundances in the mass spectra indicate that isomerization to o-cyanophenols occurred prior to degradation by loss of CO or NCH (75BSB207). 

The fragmentation pattern of isoxazoles on electron impact has been well studied. It has been used as an important tool for the structural assignment of isoxazoles obtained from the reaction of chromones with hydroxylamine 79MI41600, 77JOC1356). For example, the structures of the isoxazoles (387) and (388) were assigned on the basis of their fragmentation patterns. Ions at mje 121 (100%) and mje 93 (19.8%) were expected, and indeed observed, for the isoxazole (388), and an ion at mje 132 (39.5%>) was similarly predicted and observed for the isoxazole (387). 

Alternative ( soft ) ionization techniques are not usually required for aromatic isothiazoles because of the stability of the molecular ions under electron impact. This is not the case for the fully saturated ring systems, which fragment readily. The sultam (25) has no significant molecular ion under electron impact conditions, but using field desorption techniques the M + lY ion. is the base peak (73X3861) and enables the molecular weight to be confirmed. 

Diphenylthiirene 1-oxide and several thiirene 1,1-dioxides show very weak molecular ions by electron impact mass spectrometry, but the molecular ions are much more abundant in chemical ionization mass spectrometry (75JHC21). The major fragmentation pathway is loss of sulfur monoxide or sulfur dioxide to give the alkynic ion. High resolution mass measurements identified minor fragment ions from 2,3-diphenylthiirene 1-oxide at mje 105 and 121 as PhCO" and PhCS, which are probably derived via rearrangement of the thiirene sulfoxide to monothiobenzil (Scheme 2). 

The fragmentation patterns of relatively volatile derivatives of penicillins (e.g. benzyl-penicillin methyl ester) under electron impact (B-72MI51101) and chemical ionization (75MI51100) conditions have been described. For both techniques the primary fragmentation is that shown in Scheme 1. 

SNMS sensitivity depends on the efficiency of the ionization process. SNs are post-ionized (to SN" ) either hy electron impact (El) with electrons from a hroad electron (e-)heam or a high-frequency (HF-) plasma (i.e. an e-gas), or, most efficiently, hy photons from a laser. In particular, the photoionization process enables adjustment of the fragmentation rate of sputtered molecules by varying the laser intensity, pulse width, and/or wavelength. 

Nitrogen-containing fulvalenes have not been systematically studied by mass spectroscopy. Only isolated data for several examples of compounds have been reported. Most of the data consist of electron impact (El) mass spectra recorded for analytical purposes. Only a minor fraction dealt with the characterization of ion structures or focused on the effects of substituents, the ring size of fulvalenes, or the number and arrangement of nitrogen atoms and the fragmentation pathways. 

Sixteen non- to trimethyl-substituted thiazoloquinolines of these types were inveshgated under electron impact mass spectra thiazoloquinolines lose carbon monosulhde (CS) from the thiazole and HCN from both heterocyclic nuclei. When 2-methylthiazoloquinolines fragment, the hydrogen radical and a loss of a neutral... 

The mass spectra of free carbohydrates and their glycosides, obtained by ionization upon electron impact, are limited in their usefulness for structural studies. Peaks corresponding to molecular ions are generally not observed due to extensive fragmentation to ions of low m/e (4,9,11, 24, 26). In contrast, positive ions produced by field ionization do not give fragment spectra as characteristic as do those produced by electron impact, but the molecular ion peaks are intense, often the most intense in the spectra (3). 

The similarity between Figures 4 and 5 is a reflection of the fact that C-2 and C-3 and their hydroxyl substituents and deoxy functions do not trigger the major fragmentations of these molecules upon electron impact. A few minor relative intensity differences can be observed, but they are not of a large enough magnitude or of such a nature as to be useful in distinguishing between the 2- and 3-deoxy isomers. 

A comparison of the electron impact (El) and chemical ionization (Cl-methane) mass spectra of 1//-azepine-1-carboxylates and l-(arylsulfonyl)-l//-azepines reveals that in the El spectra at low temperature the azepines retain their 8 -electron ring structure prior to fragmentation, whereas the Cl spectra are complicated by high temperature thermal decompositions.90 It has been concluded that Cl mass spectrometry is not an efficient technique for studying azepines, and that there is no apparent correlation between the thermal and photo-induced rearrangements of 1//-azepines and their mass spectral behavior. 

The mass spectra of l-acyl-l//-l-benzazepines have been recorded.23 The mass spectrum of 3-mesyl-3/7-3-benzazepine shows an intense base peak at m/e = 142duetothebcnzazepinylium ion and a peak (51 %) at m/e — 115 (-HCN) which is attributed to the indenium cation.26 Fragmentation patterns for 1H- and 5/7-2-benzazepines40 and for 5//-dibenz[c,e]azepine5 are available. The electron-impact induced fragmentation pattern of 5//-dibenz[6,/]azepine displays an intense molecular ion as the base peak, and a moderately intense (M + 1) peak.5 ... 

Coupling of the diazotetrazole with ethyl cyanoacetate gave 1034. Its cyclization in boiling acetic acid or pyridine afforded 1035 as the major product in addition to 1036. Mass spectral fragmentation of 1035 confirmed that the azole ring is more stable than the 1,2,4-triazine ring on electron impact [76JCS(P1) 1496] (Scheme 194). 

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