Isotopic patterns

Mass spectrometric measurements are based on measuring ion currents of separated ion beams of isotopes. With knowledge of the isotopic composition of the elements investigated (see Table of Isotopic Abundances in Appendix I5), a simple identification of chemical elements using singly 

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Figure Bl.25.9(a) shows the positive SIMS spectrum of a silica-supported zirconium oxide catalyst precursor, freshly prepared by a condensation reaction between zirconium ethoxide and the hydroxyl groups of the support [17]. Note the simultaneous occurrence of single ions (Ff, Si, Zr and molecular ions (SiO, SiOFf, ZrO, ZrOFf, ZrtK. Also, the isotope pattern of zirconium is clearly visible. Isotopes are important in the identification of peaks, because all peak intensity ratios must agree with the natural abundance. In addition to the peaks expected from zirconia on silica mounted on an indium foil, the spectrum in figure Bl. 25.9(a)...

A diagrammatic illustration of the effect of an isotope pattern on a mass spectrum. The two naturally occurring isotopes of chlorine combine with a methyl group to give methyl chloride. Statistically, because their abundance ratio is 3 1, three Cl isotope atoms combine for each Cl atom. Thus, the ratio of the molecular ion peaks at m/z 50, 52 found for methyl chloride in its mass spectrum will also be in the ratio of 3 1. If nothing had been known about the structure of this compound, the appearance in its mass spectrum of two peaks at m/z 50, 52 (two mass units apart) in a ratio of 3 1 would immediately identify the compound as containing chlorine. 

The occurrence of the elements carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen manifests itself in the isotope patterns occurring for all molecular or fragment ions. For small numbers of carbon atoms, the... 

For other elements that occur with major relative abundances of more than one isotope in the natural state, the isotope pattern becomes much more complex. For example, with chlorine and bromine, the presence of these elements is clearly apparent from the isotopes Cl and for chlorine and Br and Br for bromine. Figure 47.2a shows the molecular ion region for the compound chlorodecane. Now, there are new situations in that C, C, C1, and Cl isotopes all have probabilities of occurring together. Thus, there are molecular ion peaks for + Cl, C + Cl, + Cl, and so on. Even so, the isotopic ratio of 3 1 for Cl to Cl is very clear... 

Partial mass spectra showing the isotope patterns in the molecular ion regions for ions containing carbon and (a) only one chlorine atom, (b) only one bromine atom, and (c) one chlorine and one bromine atom. The isotope patterns are quite different from each other. Note how the halogen isotope ratios appear very clearly as 3 1 for chlorine in (a), 1 1 for bromine in (b), and 3 4 1 for chlorine and bromine in (c). If the numbers of halogens were not known, the pattern could be used in a reverse sense to decide their number. 

For organometailic compounds, the situation becomes even more complicated because the presence of elements such as platinum, iron, and copper introduces more complex isotopic patterns. In a very general sense, for inorganic chemistry, as atomic number increases, the number of isotopes occurring naturally for any one element can increase considerably. An element of small atomic number, lithium, has only two natural isotopes, but tin has ten, xenon has nine, and mercury has seven isotopes. This general phenomenon should be approached with caution because, for example, yttrium of atomic mass 89 is monoisotopic, and iridium has just two natural isotopes at masses 191 and 193. Nevertheless, the occurrence and variation in patterns of multi-isotopic elements often make their mass spectrometric identification easy, as depicted for the cases of dimethylmercury and dimethylplatinum in Figure 47.4. 

The isotope patterns for two simple organometallic compounds in the molecular ion region (a) dimethylmercury and (b) dimethylplatinum. The seven isotopes of mercury show clearly and appear quite different from the six isotopes of platinum. Since there are only two carbon atoms, the contribution from C is negligible. 

The ablated vapors constitute an aerosol that can be examined using a secondary ionization source. Thus, passing the aerosol into a plasma torch provides an excellent means of ionization, and by such methods isotope patterns or ratios are readily measurable from otherwise intractable materials such as bone or ceramics. If the sample examined is dissolved as a solid solution in a matrix, the rapid expansion of the matrix, often an organic acid, covolatilizes the entrained sample. Proton transfer from the matrix occurs to give protonated molecular ions of the sample. Normally thermally unstable, polar biomolecules such as proteins give good yields of protonated ions. This is the basis of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI). 

Different combinations of stable xenon isotopes have been sealed into each of the fuel elements in fission reactors as tags so that should one of the elements later develop a leak, it could be identified by analyzing the xenon isotope pattern in the reactor s cover gas (4). Historically, the sensitive helium mass spectrometer devices for leak detection were developed as a cmcial part of building the gas-diffusion plant for uranium isotope separation at Oak Ridge, Tennessee (129), and heHum leak detection equipment is stiU an essential tool ia auclear technology (see Diffusion separation methods). 

Qualitatively, the spark source mass spectrum is relatively simple and easy to interpret. Most instrumentation has been designed to operate with a mass resolution Al/dM of about 1500. For example, at mass M= 60 a difference of 0.04 amu can be resolved. This is sufficient for the separation of most hydrocarbons from metals of the same nominal mass and for precise mass determinations to identify most species. Each exposure, as described earlier and shown in Figure 2, covers the mass range from Be to U, with the elemental isotopic patterns clearly resolved for positive identification. 

A typical SSIMS spectrum of an organic molecule adsorbed on a surface is that of thiophene on ruthenium at 95 K, shown in Eig. 3.14 (from the study of Cocco and Tatarchuk [3.28]). Exposure was 0.5 Langmuir only (i.e. 5 x 10 torr s = 37 Pa s), and the principal positive ion peaks are those from ruthenium, consisting of a series of seven isotopic peaks around 102 amu. Ruthenium-thiophene complex fragments are, however, found at ca. 186 and 160 amu each has the same complicated isotopic pattern, indicating that interaction between the metal and the thiophene occurred even at 95 K. In addition, thiophene and protonated thiophene peaks are observed at 84 and 85 amu, respectively, with the implication that no dissociation of the thiophene had occurred. The smaller masses are those of hydrocarbon fragments of different chain length. 

The BFa-catalyzed rearrangement of phenyl pentadienyl ether has been shown to proceed strictly intramolecularly and with the isotopic pattern shown. Analyze the... 

The mass spectrum of the unknown compound showed a molecular ion at m/z 246 with an isotope pattern indicating that one chlorine atom and possibly a sulfur atom are present. The fragment ion at m/z 218 also showed the presence of chlorine and sulfur. The accurate mass measurement showed the molecular formula to be C]3FI7OSCl R + DB = 10. 

The presence of chlorine and/or bromine is easily detected by their characteristic isotopic patterns (see Appendix 11). As in many aliphatic compounds, the abundance of the molecular ion decreases as the size of the R group increases. For example, in the El mass spectra of methyl chloride and ethyl chloride, the molecular ion intensities are high, whereas in compounds with larger R groups such as butyl chloride, the molecular ion peak is relatively small or nonexistent. 

The highest mass peaks observed in the mass spectra of alkyl chlorides may correspond to the loss of HX or X (loss of HI is seldom observed), depending on the structure of the molecule. In order to deduce the molecular ion, add the mass of X or HX to the mass at which the highest mass peak is readily observed. (Note that higher mass ions having the isotope pattern of X may be present... 

Figure 17.2 is an example of a mass spectrum of an aromatic dichloro compound. The intensity of the molecular ion indicates that an aromatic compound is present. The isotope pattern is that of two chlorines, and subtracting 70 mass units from the molecular ion gives the formula QHj. (See Example 2.3 in Chapter 2 for another example of isotope abundances in the molecular ion region.)... 

The molecular ion is apparent in the mass spectrum of DDT (Figure 25.2) at m/z 352 with the classic isotope pattern for five chlorine atoms (see Appendix 11). The major fragment ion is the loss of CCI3 at m/z 235. 

The isotopic patterns of or atoms present in the analyte molecule... 

In general, the mass resolution required for most analyses is such that the singly charged isotope patterns of the detected ions are readily discernible. For applications involving molecular weights up to about 1500 Da, this can be provided by magnetic sector, quadrupole, and time-of-flight mass spectrometers. 

Applications With the current use of soft ionisation techniques in LC-MS, i.e. ESI and APCI, the application of MS/MS is almost obligatory for confirmatory purposes. However, an alternative mass-spectrometric strategy may be based on the use of oaToF-MS, which enables accurate mass determination at 5 ppm. This allows calculation of the elemental composition of an unknown analyte. In combination with retention time data, UV spectra and the isotope pattern in the mass spectrum, this should permit straightforward identification of unknown analytes. Hogenboom et al. [132] used such an approach for identification and confirmation of analytes by means of on-line SPE-LC-ESI-oaToFMS. Off-line SPE-LC-APCI-MS has been used to determine fluorescence whitening agents (FWAs) in surface waters of a Catalan industrialised area [138]. Similarly, Alonso et al. [139] used off-line SPE-LC-DAD-ISP-MS for the analysis of industrial textile waters. SPE functions here mainly as a preconcentration device. 

Requires relatively stable isotopic pattern in nature... 

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