Methyl benzoate mass spectrum

A student performed a reaction in which bromobenzene was converted to the corresponding Grignard reagent, which was then reacted with methyl benzoate (Eq. 8.20). Mass spectra (Figs. 8.61-8.63) were obtained of three components of the reaction mixture, which were expected to be triphenylmethanol (25), benzophenone (26), and biphenyl (27). Confirm that these products were indeed formed by assigning the appropriate mass spectrum to each compound. For each spectrum, (a) specify the parent and base peaks (b) identify the compound represented by the mass spectrum and (c) predict the structure of the ion for each of the peaks for which a value of m/z is provided. 

Thus, the mass spectrum for peak 1 is consistent with the structure of methyl benzoate. We could further confirm our identification by consulting a library of mass spectra. If we had any pure methyl benzoate around, we could also prepare a standard and use both the GC retention time and the mass spectrum of the standard as a means of confirming the compound identification. 

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