Isomerization and fragmentation of methyl benzofuran ions and chromene ions in the gas phase

The rearrangement of the molecular ions of the isomeric 2- and 3-methyl benzofurans (1 and 2), 2H-chromene (3) and 4H-chromene (4) has been studied as a further example of the isomerization of oxygen-heteroaromatic radical cations via a ring expansion/ring contraction mechanism well documented for molecular ions of alkyl benzenes. The ions 1⁺˙?4⁺˙ fragment mainly by H loss into identical chromylium ions a. The process exhibits consistently a large kinetic energy release and an isotope effect k_H/k_D, which arise from a rate-determining energy barrier of the last dissociation step. Differences of the kinetic energy releases, the isotope effects and the appearance energies of the methyl benzofuran ions and the chromene ions indicate a large energy barrier also for the initial hydrogen migration during the rearrangement of the methyl benzofuran ions. This is substantiated by an MNDO calculation of the minimum energy reaction path. In contrast to the behaviour of alkyl benzene ions, a unidirectional isomerization of the methyl benzofuran ions by ring expansion takes place but no mutual interconversion of the molecular ions of methyl benzofurans and chromenes.     

The [CH5NO]+ ˙ potential energy surface: Distonic ions,lon-dipole complexes and hydrogen-bridged radical cations

By combining results from a variety of mass spectrometric techniques (metastable ion, collisional activation, collision-induced dissociative ionization, neutralization-reionization spectrometry, ²H, ¹³C and ¹⁸O isotopic labelling and appearance energy measurements) and high-level ab initio molecular orbital calculations, the potential energy surface of the [CH₅NO]^{+ ˙} system has been explored. The calculations show that at least nine stable isomers exist. These include the conventional species [CH₃ONH₂]^{+ ˙} and [HO? CH₂? NH₂]^{+ ˙}, the distonic ions [O? CH₂? NH₃]^{+ ˙}, [O? NH₂? CH₃]^{+ ˙}, [CH₂? O(H)? NH₂]^{+ ˙}, [HO? NH₂? CH₂]^{+ ˙}, and the ion-dipole complex CH₂?NH₂⁺ …? OH˙. Surprisingly the distonic ion [CH₂? O? NH₃]^{+ ˙} was found not to be a stable species but to dissociate spontaneously to CH₂?O + NH₃^{+ ˙}. The most stable isomer is the hydrogen-bridged radical cation [H? C?O …? H …? NH₃]^{+ ˙} which is best viewed as an immonium cation interacting with the formyl dipole. The related species [CH₂?O …? H …? NH₂]^{+ ˙}, in which an ammonium radical cation interacts with the formaldehyde dipole is also a very stable ion. It is generated by loss of CO from ionized methyl carbamate, H₂N? C(?O)? OCH₃ and the proposed mechanism involves a 1,4-H shift followed by intramolecular ‘dictation’ and CO extrusion. The [CH₂?O …? H …? NH₂]^{+ ˙} product ions fragment exothermically, but via a barrier, to NH₄^{+ ˙} HCO^…? and to H₃N? C(H)?O^{+ ˙} H˙. Metastable ions [CH₃ONH₂]^+…? dissociate, via a large barrier, to CH₂?O + NH₃⁺ + and to [CH₂NH₂]⁺ + OH˙ but not to CH₂?O^{+ ˙} + NH₃. The former reaction proceeds via a 1,3-H shift after which dissociation takes place immediately. Loss of OH˙ proceeds formally via a 1,2-CH₃ shift to produce excited [O? NH₂? CH₃]^{+ ˙}, which rearranges to excited [HO? NH₂? CH₂]^{+ ˙} via a 1,3-H shift after which dissociation follows.     

Isomerization and fragmentation of methylfuran ions and pyran ions in the gas phase

The mutual interconversion of the molecular ions [C₅H₆O]⁺ of 2-methylfuran (1), 3-methylfuran (2) and 4H-pyran (3) before fragmentation to [C₅H₅O]⁺ ions has been studied by collisional activation spectrometry, by deuterium labelling, by the kinetic energy release during the fragmentation, by appearance energles and by a MNDO calculation of the minimum energy reaction path. The electron impact and collisional activation mass spectra show clearly that the molecular ions of 1–3 do not equilibrate prior to fragmentation, but that mostly pyrylium ions [C₅H₅O]⁺ arise by the loss of a H atom. This implies an irreversible isomerization of methylfuran ions 1 and 2 into pyran ions before fragmentation, in contrast to the isomerization of the related systems toluene ions/cycloheptatriene ions. Complete H/D scrambling is observed in deuterated methylfuran ions prior to the H/D loss that is associated with an iostope effect k_H/k_D = 1.67–2.16 for metastable ions. In contrast, no H/D scrambling has been observed in deuterated 4H-pyran ions. However, the loss of a H atom from all metastable [C₅H₅O]⁺ ions gives rise to a flat-topped peak in the mass-analysed ion kinetic energy spectrum and a kinetic energy release (T₅₀) of 26 ± 1.5 kJ mol^?1. The MNDO calculation of the minimum energy reaction path reveals that methylfuran ions 1 and 2 favour a rearrangement into pyran ions before fragmentation into furfuryl ions, but that the energy barrier of the first rearrangement step is at least of the same height as the barrier for the dissociation of pyran ions into pyrylium ions. This agrees with the experimental results.     

The question of cyclic versus acyclic ions: The structure of [C10H12]+˙ gas phase ions

The extent of isomerization of acyclic and cyclic gas phase radical cations of composition [C₁₀H₁₂]⁺˙ has been investigated by using collisionally activated dissociation spectroscopy. Both electron and charge exchange ionizaiton were employed to form the ions with various internal energies. The [C₁₀H₁₂]⁺˙ ions investigated consisted of ionized phenylbutenes, ring-substituted methyl derivatives of allylbenzene and phenylpropene, 1-methyl-2-isopropenylbenzene, benzylcyclopropane, phenylcyclobutane, tetralin and 1-methylindan. The 1-methylindan and tetralin radical cations are the most stable of the C₁₀H₁₂ isomeric radical ions. The [C₁₀H₁₂]⁺˙ formed from acyclic olefins having the double bond in conjugation with the aromatic ring retain the initial structure to a significant extent. However, ions derived from olefins with the double bond out of conjugation with the benzene ring preferentially cyclize to stable five- and six-membered cyclic ions. Ring opening of small-ring cyclic ions, such as ionized benzylcyclopropane and phenylcyclobutane, occurs, followed by ring closure to the tetralin radical cation.     

On the Origin of the Methyl Radical Loss from Deprotonated Ferulic and Isoferulic Acids: Electronic Excitation of a Transient Structure

Formation of radical fragments from even-electron ions is an exception to the “even-electron rule”. In this work, ferulic acid (FA) and isoferulic acid (IFA) were used as the model compounds to probe the fragmentation mechanisms and the isomeric effects on homolytic cleavage. Elimination of methyl radical and CO₂ are the two competing reactions observed in the CID-MS of [FA – H]^? and [IFA – H]^?, of which losing methyl radical violates the “even-electron rule”. The relative intensity of their product ions is significantly different, and thereby the two isomeric compounds can be differentiated by tandem MS. Theoretical calculations indicate that both the singlet-triplet gap and the excitation energy decrease in the transient structures, as the breaking C–O bond is lengthened. The methyl radical elimination has been rationalized as the intramolecular electronic excitation of a transient structure with an elongating C–O bond. The potential energy diagrams, completed by the addition of the energy barrier of the radical elimination, have provided a reasonable explanation of the different CID-MS behaviors of [FA – H]^? and [IFA – H]^?.

Isomerization of hydrocarbon ions. VI—parameters determining the isomerization of aliphatic hydrocarbon ions

The radical or non-radical character of aliphatic hydrocarbon ions determines the extent to which these ions equilibrate to a mixture of interconverting structures prior to decomposition. It is suggested that the radical (odd electron) ions have both lower thresholds for decomposition and higher barriers for isomerization that non-radical (even electron) ions, thus explaining their reduced tendency for isomerization. Moreover, the molecular size seems to be a major influencing factor for the isomerization of unsaturated hydrocarbon molecular ions. With decreasing molecular size isomerization prior to decomposition becomes more pronounced. Collisional activation spectra of fragment ions (formed by loss of H₂O from the corresponding alcohols) and of [C₅H₁₀]⁺ and [C₄H₈]⁺ molecular ions are reported in support of these conclusions.     

Structures of decomposing and non-decomposing gas-phase [C4H6O]+· radical cations,and their [C2H2O]+· and [C3H6]+· product ions

The structures of gas-phase [C₄H₆O]^+· radical cations and their daughter ions of composition [C₂H₂O]^+· and [C₃H₆]^+· were investigated by using collisionally activated dissociation, metastable ion measurement, kinetic energy release and collisional ionization tandem mass spectrometric techniques. Electron ionization (70 eV) of ethoxyacetylene, methyl vinyl ketone, crotonaldehyde and 1-methoxyallene yields stable [C₄H₆O]^+· ions, whereas the cyclic C₄H₆O compounds undergo ring opening to stable distonic ions. The structures of [C₂H₃O]^+· ions produced by 70-eV ionization of several C₄H₆O compounds are identical with that of the ketene radical cation. The [C₃H₆]^+· ions generated from crotonaldehyde, methacrylaldehyde, and cyclopropanecarboxaldehyde have structures similar to that of the propene radical cations, whereas those ions generated from the remainder of the [C₄H₆O]^+· ions studied here produced a mixed population of cyclopropane and propene radical cations.     

齐聚噻吩衍生物电致变色性质

合成了四种齐聚噻吩衍生物：5,5"-二氰基-2,2’:5’,2"-三噻吩 (DCN3T), 5,5"’-二氰基-2,2’:5’,2":5",2"’-四噻吩 (DCN4T), 5,5"’-甲氧基-2,2’:5’,2":5",2"’-四噻吩(DMO4T) 和 4,4"-二羧基-5,5"-二丙基-2,2’:5’,2"-三噻吩 (BP3T-DCOOH),研究了它们的电致变色性质,研究结果发现,这四种齐聚噻吩衍生物膜在电场作用下,可以发生可逆的颜色变化。     

The role of ion–neutral complexes in the reactions of onium ions and related species

An account is given of the development of the proposal that ion–neutral complexes are involved in the unimolecular reactions of onium ions (R¹R²C?Z⁺R³; Z = O, S, NR⁴; R¹, R², R³, R⁴ = H, C_nH_{2n + 1}), with particular emphasis on the informative C₄H₉O⁺ oxonium ion system (Z = O; R¹, R² = H; R³ = C₃H₇). Current ideas on the role of ion-neutral complexes in cation rearrangements, hydrogen transfer processes and more complex isomerizations are illustrated by considering the behaviour of isomeric CH₃CH₂CH₂X⁺ and (CH₃)₂CHX⁺ species [X = CH₂O, CH₃CHO, H₂O, CH₃OH, NH₃, NH₂CH₃, NH(CH₃)₂, CH₂?NH, CH₂?NCH₃, CO, CH₃˙, Br˙ and I˙]. Attention is focused on the importance of four energetic factors (the stabilization energy of the ion–neutral complex, the energy released by rearrangement of the cationic component, the enthalpy change for proton transfer between the partners of the ion neutral complex and the ergicity of recombination of the components) which influence the reactivity of the complexes. The nature and extent of the chemistry involving ion-neutral complexes depend on the relative magnitudes of these parameters. Thus, when the magnitude of the stabilization energy exceeds the energy released by cation rearrangement, the ergicity of proton transfer is small, and recombination of the components in a new way is energetically favourable, extensive complex-mediated isomerizations tend to occur. Loss of H₂O from metastable CH₂?O⁺C₃H₇ ions is an example of such a reaction. Conversely, if the stabilization energy is small compared with the magnitude of the energy released by eation rearrangement, the opportunities for complex-mediated processes to become manifest are decreased, especially if proton transfer is endoergic. Thus, CH₃CH₂CH₂CO⁺ expels CO, with an increased kinetic energy release, after rate-limiting isomerization of CH₃CH₂CH₂⁺? CO to (CH₃)₂CH⁺? CO has taken place. When proton transfer between the components of the complex is strongly exoergic, fragmentation corresponding to single hydrogen transfer occurs readily. The proton-transfer step is often preceded by cation rearrangement for CH₃CH₂CH₂X⁺ species. In such circumstances, the involvement of ion–neutral complexes can be detected by the observation of unusual site selectivity in the hydrogen-transfer step. Thus, C₃H₆ loss from CH₂?N⁺(R¹)CH₂CH₂CH₃ (R¹ = H, CH₃, C₃H₇) immonium ions is found by ²H-labelling experiments to proceed via preferential α-and γ-hydrogen transfer; this finding is explained if the incipient ⁺CH₂CH₂CH₃ ion isomerizes to CH₃CH⁺CH₃ prior to proton abstraction. In contrast, the isomeric CH₂?N⁺(R¹)CH(CH₃)₂ species undergo specific β-hydrogen transfer because the developing CH₃CH⁺CH₃ cation is stable with respect to rearrangements involving a 1,2-H shift.     

Peptide cation-radicals. A computational study of the competition between peptide N-Calpha bond cleavage and loss of the side chain in the [GlyPhe-NH2 + 2H]+. cation-radical

Cation‐radicals and dications corresponding to hydrogen atom adducts to N‐terminus‐protonated N_α‐glycylphenylalanine amide (Gly‐Phe‐NH₂) are studied by combined density functional theory and Møller‐Plesset perturbational computations (B3‐MP2) as models for electron‐capture dissociation of peptide bonds and elimination of side‐chain groups in gas‐phase peptide ions. Several structures are identified as local energy minima including isomeric aminoketyl cation‐radicals, and hydrogen‐bonded ion‐radicals, and ylid‐cation‐radical complexes. The hydrogen‐bonded complexes are substantially more stable than the classical aminoketyl structures. Dissociations of the peptide N? C_α bonds in aminoketyl cation‐radicals are 18–47 kJ mol^?1 exothermic and require low activation energies to produce ion‐radical complexes as stable intermediates. Loss of the side‐chain benzyl group is calculated to be 44 kJ mol^?1 endothermic and requires 68 kJ mol^?1 activation energy. Rice‐Ramsperger‐Kassel‐Marcus (RRKM) and transition‐state theory (TST) calculations of unimolecular rate constants predict fast preferential N? C_α bond cleavage resulting in isomerization to ion‐molecule complexes, while dissociation of the C_α? CH₂C₆H₅ bond is much slower. Because of the very low activation energies, the peptide bond dissociations are predicted to be fast in peptide cation‐radicals that have thermal (298 K) energies and thus behave ergodically. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fragmentations of Hydroxymethyl Radical Cation: An Ab Initio Study

The probable fragmentation channels of hydroxymethyl radical cation were studied through the H‐and H₂‐abstraction and C‐O bond breaking reactions including their related isomerization reactions. The energy barriers for hydroxymethyl cation undergoing isomerization reactions are generally higher than those undergoing the concerted 1,2‐elimination reactions to generate CHO⁺ and H₂. The fragmentation reaction to form CHO⁺ and H₂ through the 1,2‐elimination pathways is the major fragmentation channel for hydroxymethyl cation, consistent with the experimental observation. H abstraction from the hydroxyl group of CH₂OH⁺ is more difficult than that from the methylene group. The feasible path to lose H is to generate CHOH₂⁺ through hydrogen transfer reaction as the first step and then to undergo H‐elimination to generate trans‐CHOH⁺. Among all the reactions found in this study, the OH‐elimination to generate CH₂⁺ has the highest energy barrier. Our calculation results indicate that the major signals contributed from the related species of hydroxymethyl cation found in the mass spectrum should be m/e 29, m/e 30.     

Isomeric [C,H3,N,O]+˙ ions and their neutral counterparts

The isomeric ions [H₂NC(H)O]⁺˙, [H₂NCOH]⁺˙, [H₃CNO]⁺˙ and [H₂CNOH]⁺˙ were examined in the gas phase by mass spectrometry. Ab initio molecular orbital theory was used to calculate the relative stabilities of [H₂NC(H)O]⁺˙, [H₂NCOH]⁺˙, [H₃NCO]⁺˙ and their neutral counterparts. Theory predicted [H₂NC(H)O]⁺˙ to be the most stable ion. [H₂NCOH]⁺˙ ions were generated via a 1,4-hydrogen transfer in [H₂NC(O)OCH₃]⁺˙, [H₂NC(O)C(O)OH]⁺˙ and [H₂NC(O)CH₂CH₃]⁺˙. Its metastable dissociation takes place via [H₃NCO]⁺˙ with the isomerization as the rate-determining step. [H₂CNOH]⁺˙ undergoes a rate-determining isomerization into [H₃CNO]⁺˙ prior to metastable fragmentation. Neutralization-reionization mass spectrometry was used to identify the neutral counterparts of these [H₃,C,N,O]⁺˙ ions as stable species in the gas phase. The ion [H₃NCO]⁺˙ was not independently generated in these experiments; its neutral counterpart was predicted by theory to be only weakly bound.     

Structure and formation of gaseous [C4H5O]+ ions. III—Ions derived from unsaturated ethers

The abundant [C₄H₅O]⁺ (m/z 69) ions found in the 70 eV mass spectra of a series of acetylenic, allenylic and unsaturated cyclic ethers are shown to have the following structures: HC?C? \documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$ \mathop {\rm C}\limits^{\rm + } $\end{document}H? OCH₃ (e), H₂C?C?—OCH₃ (f), (g) and H? C?C? CH₂—O\documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$ \mathop {\rm C}\limits^{\rm + } $\end{document}H₂ (h). Of these, the cyclic ion g is the most stable: its ion enthalpy (≥ 165 kcal mol^?1) is close to that found for the acyclic C₃H₅\documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$ \mathop {\rm C}\limits^{\rm + } $\end{document}? O isomers identified in a previous study. Evidence that these four isomeric [C₄H₅O]⁺ ions are stable species with lifetimes ≥ 10^?5 s is obtained from their collisional activation spectra, the shape of the metastable peaks and the associated kinetic energy release values for the common loss of CO, thermochemical information and analysis of deuterium and carbon-13 labelled precursor molecules. It is further shown that loss of X? from ethers of the type X? C?C? CH₂OCH₃ involves isomerization into energy rich allenyl type ions [(X)HC?C?CHOCH₃]⁺˙ . These ions undergo loss of X? by simple bond cleavage, yielding, e type product ions, when the C? X bond strength is relatively low (X?I, Br). When X?Cl and especially CH₃ or H, X? is only lost after rearrangement yielding the cyclic product ion g. The mechanism for this cyclization reaction is related to that proposed in a previous study for the ester→ acid isomerization in the molecular ions of the esters of α, β-unsaturated carboxylic acids.     

The energy surface for isomeric [C2H3O]+ ions: Further experimental evidence

Mass spectra from collisionally activated dissociation (CAD) of [C₂H₃O]⁺ ions, including isotopically labeled analogs, provide further information on the isomers [CH₃C?O⁺] (a), [CH₂?C?O⁺H] (b), [⁺CH₂CH?O] (c) and (d). Our data generally support the recent conclusions from theory by Radom and coworkers and from experiment by Terlouw, Holmes and coworkers. Most acetyl-containing molecular ions form a ions in high purity only at low energies, consistent with isomerization of higher energy molecular ions to form the more stable enol which dissociates to b. Isomer d, prepared from (CICH₂)₂CHOH, undergoes facile hydrogen scrambling, presumably through a degenerate 1,2-hydrogen shift. Theory suggests that c undergoes spontaneous isomerization to a and d; although [C₂H₃O]⁺ ions from BrCH₂CHO appear to consist of a and ～15% d, the latter are formed without substantial hydrogen scrambling.     

Rearrangements and fragmentations of [C2H5S]+ ions

From deuterium labelling experiments it was concluded that metastable molecular ions of ethyl methyl sulfide lose a methyl radical with the formation of both [CH₃S?CH₂]⁺ amd [CH₃CH?SH]⁺˙ The fragmentation reactions of metastable ions generated with these structure are losses of C₂H₂, H₂S and CH₄. These reactoins and the preceding isomerizations have also been studied by means of deuterium labelling. From the results it is concluded that the three fragmentation reactions most probably occur from ions with a C? C? S skeleton. Appearance energy measurements for ions generated with the two structures above and all give rise to the same ΔH_f value for these three isomeric forms. Ab initio molecular orbitals calculations confirm that these three ions fortuitously have very similar heats of formation. A potential energy diagram rationalizing the isomerizations and the principal fragmentation reaction is presented.     

Formation of β-distonic oxonium ions: Study of ROCH2CH2OR′ radical cations

Radical cations derived from the ethers ROCH₂CH₂OR′ (R, R′ = H, CH₃, C₂₅) were studied, since β-distonic oxonium ions are often prepared from ionized ethers of glycol. The first step in the fragmentation is a 1,5-transfer of an α-hydrogen to oxygen of a terminal alkoxy group leading to a δ-distonic oxonium ion. This step is thermo-neutral and reversible in the ROCH₂CH₂OH radical cations and exothermic and irreversible in the dialkyl ether radical cations. Depending on R and R,′ these δ-distonic oxonium ions fragment by three reactions: the loss of an alcohol or a water molecule, the formation of a β-distonic oxonium ion ˙CH₂CH₂O(H)⁺R and a 1,4-H migration between carbon atoms. Competition between these processes is discussed.     

Chiral discrimination in hydrogen‐bonded complexes of 2‐methylol oxirane with hydrogen peroxide

A systematic quantum chemical study reveals the effects of chirality on the intermolecular interactions between two chiral molecules bound by hydrogen bonds. The methods used are second‐order Møller–Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) with the 6‐311++g(d,p) basis set. Complexes via the O? H···O hydrogen bond formed between the chiral 2‐methylol oxirane (S) and chiral HOOH (P and M) molecules have been investigated, which lead to four diastereomeric complexes. The nomenclature of the complexes used in this article is enantiomeric configuration sign corresponding to English letters. Such as: sm, sp. The relative positions of the methylol group and the hydrogen peroxide are designated as syn (same side) and anti (opposite side). The largest chirodiastaltic energy was ΔE_chir = ?1.329 kcal mol^?1 [9% of the counterpoise correct average binding energy D_e(corr)] between the sm‐syn and sp‐anti in favor of sm‐syn. The largest diastereofacial energy was ?1.428 kcal mol^?1 between sm‐syn and sm‐anti in favor of sm‐syn. To take into account solvents effect, the polarizable continuum model (PCM) method has been used to evaluate the chirodiastaltic energies, and diastereofacial energies of the 2‐methylol oxirane···HOOH complexes. The chiral 2,3‐dimethylol oxirane (S, S) is C₂ symmetry which offers two identical faces. Hence, the chirodiastaltic energy is identical to the diastereomeric energy, and is ΔE_chir = 0.563 kcal mol^?1 or 5.3% of the D_e(corr) in favor of s,s‐p. The optimized structures, interaction energies, and chirodiastaltic energies for various isomers were estimated. The harmonic frequencies, IR intensities, rotational constants, and dipole moments were also reported. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2009     

Ab initio calculations on the isomerization of the 1,5-hexadiyne radical cation

Ab initio calculations at the MRCI//ROHF/6-31G** level suggest that the 1,5-hexadiyne radical cation is not stable and isomerizes to the 1,2,4,5-hexatetraene radical cation without a barrier. After this rearrangement, the internal energy of the ions will be sufficient for a subsequent isomerization to the benzene structure. At energies of about 1 eV above the vertical ionization energy, the 1,5-hexadiyne radical cation may dissociate to linear neutral and ionic C₃H₃ fragments. These results are in excellent agreement with previous experiments.     

Density functional theory and RRKM calculations of decompositions of the metastable E‐2,4‐pentadienal molecular ions

The potential energy profiles for the fragmentations that lead to [C₅H₅O]⁺ and [C₄H₆]^+? ions from the molecular ions [C₅H₆O]^+? of E‐2,4‐pentadienal were obtained from calculations at the UB3LYP/6‐311G + + (3df,3pd)//UB3LYP/6‐31G(d,p) level of theory. Kinetic barriers and harmonic frequencies obtained by the density functional method were then employed in Rice–Ramsperger–Kassel–Marcus calculations of individual rate coefficients for a large number of reaction steps. The pre‐equilibrium and rate‐controlling step approximations were applied to different regions of the complex potential energy surface, allowing the overall rate of decomposition to be calculated and discriminated between three rival pathways: C? H bond cleavage, decarbonylation and cyclization. These processes should have to compete for an equilibrated mixture of four conformers of the E‐2,4‐pentadienal ions. The direct dissociation, however, can only become important in the high‐energy regime. In contrast, loss of CO and cyclization are observable processes in the metastable kinetic window. The former involves a slow 1,2‐hydrogen shift from the carbonyl group that is immediately followed by the formation of an ion‐neutral complex which, in turn, decomposes rapidly to the s‐trans‐1,3‐butadiene ion [C₄H₆]^+?. The predominating metastable channel is the second one, that is, a multi‐step ring closure which starts with a rate‐limiting cis—trans isomerization. This process yields a mixture of interconverting pyran ions that dissociates to the pyrylium ions [C₅H₅O]⁺. These results can be used to rationalize the CID mass spectrum of E‐2,4‐pentadienal in a low‐energy regime. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fragmentation of acylium ions from methyl levulinate. Isomerization processes involving carbon and oxygen atoms of both carbonyl groups

The fragmentations of the acylium ions O?C⁺? CH₂? CH₂? CO₂CH₃ and O?C⁺? CH₂? CH₂? COCH₃ generated from methyl levulinate are governed extensively by the interaction of the two carbonyl groups. Both species eliminate a molecule of CO unimolecularly and under CID conditions. The results derived from measurements of ¹³C and ¹⁸O labelled precursors, together with kinetic energy release values, have been used to study the mechanisms. In the first of these acylium ions, both carbonyl groups are equivalent; this phenomenon can be the result of a 1,4 methoxy shift. In the second acylium ion, only the oxygen atoms change their positions; this isomerization occurs via the [M? H]⁺ of γ-valerolactone. Some other fragmentation processes also discussed in relation to ²H labelling are the formation of the [M ? COOCH₃] ⁺ ion and the loss of HCOOCH₃ in the collision-induced dissociation mass spectra of the first acylium ion, and the formation of the [CH₃CO]⁺ ion and the loss of H₂O for the second one.