Applications of electrospray ionization mass spectrometry to neutral organic molecules including fullerenes

The use of electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI/MS) for the detection of neutral organic molecules becomes possible by their derivation with specific ESI/MS tagging reagents that have either proton or metal ion binding sites. We used the neutral crown ether group in several reagents to attach a metal binding site to substrate molecules. Application of this method to steroids, amino acids, vitamin D, fatty acids, and fullerenes is described. Besides characterization, tagged molecules can be used for studying organic reactions by ESI/MS. This work demonstrates that ESI/MS provides a unique window on fullerene solution chemistry. ESI/MS is not only an excellent tool for the analysis of biopolymers but is also useful for studying the organic chemistry of small neutral molecules.