Parent peak

Compounds that contain chlorine, bromine, sulfur, or silicon are usually apparent from prominent peaks at masses 2, 4, 6, and so on, units larger than the nominal mass of the parent or fragment ion. Eor example, when one chlorine atom is present, the P + 2 mass peak will be about one-third the intensity of the parent peak. When one bromine atom is present, the P + 2 mass peak will be about the same intensity as the parent peak. The abundance of heavy isotopes is treated in terms of the binomial expansion (a -I- h) , where a is the relative abundance of the light isotope, b is the relative abundance of the heavy isotope, and m is the number of atoms of the particular element present in the molecule. If two bromine atoms are present, the binomial expansion is... 

A strong parent peak often indicates a ring. 

Molecular formula Name Parent peak Base peak Three next most intense peaks ... 

The mass spectra of alcohols often completely lack a peak corresponding to the parent ion. This is due to extremely rapid loss of neutral fragments following initial ionization. For example, the mass spectrum of 2-methyl-2-butanol lacks a parent peak and contains strong peaks at M-15 (loss of CH3O and M-18 (loss of H2O). 

The mass spectrum of a compound is typically presented as a bar graph with masses (m/z values) on the x axis and intensity, or relative abundance of ions of a given m/z striking the detector, on the y axis. The tallest peak, assigned an intensity of 100%, is called the base peak, and the peak that corresponds to the unfragmented cation radical is called the parent peak or the molecular ion (M+). Figure 12.2 shows the mass spectrum of propane. 

Parent peak (Section 12.1) The peak in a mass spectrum corresponding to the molecular ion. The mass of the parent peak therefore represents the molecular weight of the compound. 

Palmitic acid, structure of, 1062 Palmitoleic acid, structure of, 1062 PAM resin, solid-phase peptide synthesis and, 1037 Para (m), 519 Paraffin, 91 Parallel synthesis, 586 Parent peak (mass spectrum), 410 Partial charge, 36 Pasteur, Louis, 297, 307... 

Effect of dimer formation on deactivation. Another possible mode of deactivation is formation of inactive Co dimers or oligomers. To test for these species, we examined the ESI-mass spectram of fresh and deactivated Co-salen catalysts in dichloromethane solvent (22). The major peak in the mass spectram occurred at m/z of 603.5 for both Jacobsen s Co(II) and Co(III)-OAc salen catalysts, whereas much smaller peaks were observed in the m/z range of 1207 to 1251. The major feature at 603.5 corresponds to the parent peak of Jacobsen s Co(II) salen catalyst (formula weight = 603.76) and the minor peaks (1207 to 1251) are attributed to dimers in the solution or formed in the ESI-MS. The ESI-MS spectrum of the deactivated Co-salen catalyst, which was recovered after 12 h HKR reaction with epichlorohydrin, was similar to that of Co(II) and Co(III)-OAc salen. Evidently, only a small amount of dimer species was formed during the HKR reaction. However, the mass spectram of a fresh Co(III)-OAc salen catalyst diluted in dichloromethane for 24 h showed substantial formation of dimer. The activity and selectivity of HKR of epichlorohydrin with the dimerized catalyst recovered after 24 h exposure to dichloromethane were similar to those observed with a fresh Co-OAc salen catalyst. Therefore, we concluded that catalyst dimerization cannot account for the observed deactivation. 

Table 9.12 Intensities of isotope peaks (relative to the parent peak) for combinations of bromine and chlorine...

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