Comparisom of electron impact and field desorption mass spectra I : Substituted sultams

The low and the high resolution electron impact (EI) and field desorption (FD) mass spectra (MS) of substituted 5- or 6-membered ring sultams are given and the main fragmentation pathways are interpreted. Sultams carrying polar substituents, such as dicarboxylic acids and their mono- and di-amides show either small or no molecular ions with EI-MS. Their existence, however, can be indirectly inferred by metastable defocusing. In contrast to these findings FD-MS display in all our examples the quasimolecular ions (M + 1)⁺ as the base peaks of the spectra. While the pattern for the EI fragmentations follows the generally known rules very closely, five general aspects for the fragmentation pathway of FD mass spectra have been established which demonstrate the characteristics of this modern analytical method. The use of high temperature activated emitters enables a choice to be made between obtaining only molecular peaks and producing significant fragments via a controlled thermal degradation. This is the first time that the complementary and different characters of the information obtained with the two ionization modes EI and FD have been demonstrated on a homologous series of compounds.     

Field desorption mass spectrometry

The development of some new ionization techniques for thermally labile compounds has considerably extended the applicability of mass spectrometry to biochemical, medical and environmental sciences. Field desorption mass spectrometry (FD MS) is one of these techniques in which ions are directly formed from solids or liquids.     

Non‐vacuum field desorption ion source implemented under super‐atmospheric pressure

Standard field desorption (FD) ionization is implemented under high vacuum condition. In this paper, non‐vacuum FD is performed under a super‐atmospheric pressure environment using untreated tungsten wires as FD emitter, and the ion source was coupled to a commercial linear ion trap mass spectrometer. The operating pressure of the ion source was 6 bars which was high enough to provide sufficient dielectric strength to the working gas so that the high voltage that was required for FD could be applied to the emitter without occurrence of electrical discharge. Non‐volatile sample deposited on the bare tungsten wire FD emitter was heated by flowing direct current through the emitter. Similar to vacuum FD, the formation of conical protrusion of the liquefied sample layer under the strong electric field was also observed. Using the present ion source, high pressure field‐desorption of polar neutral compounds, organic salts and ionic liquids is demonstrated. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

HPLC,mass spectrometry,and LC/MS of gossypol and its derivatives

Conditions are reported for the reverse-phase HPLC analysis of gossypol and of some of its derivatives, including anhydrogossypol, gossypolone, gossypol hexaacetate, and Schiff's base derivatives. It is shown that field desorption (FD) and chemical ionization (CI) mass spectrometry have advantages over electron impact (EI) mass spectrometry for the characterization of these compounds and that combined high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS), especially when used in the CI mode, is particularly effective.     

Liquid chromatography mass spectrometry with supersonic molecular beams

A new approach for liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is described, based on achieving soft thermal vaporization followed by supersonic expansion and direct sample compound ionization, while in a supersonic molecular beam (SMB). The soft molecular vaporization step utilizes spray formation that is continued by fast thermal vaporization inside a channel supersonic nozzle, followed by ultrafast supercooling in a supersonic expansion. The short time (several microseconds) spent by the vaporized compound in the heated nozzle prior to its expansion cooling may result in incomplete vibrational equilibrium and thus reduced degree of dissociation. In addition, even if vibrational equilibrium at the nozzle temperature is obtained, the sample compounds have significantly reduced time for their dissociation, which is thus further minimized (kinetic consideration). As soon as the molecules expand and form a SMB, they are supercooled and any further dissociation is avoided. While in the SMB, the sample molecules can be ionized either by electron ionization as described in this paper or by hyperthermal surface ionization. The major goal of this method is to obtain high quality library searchable electron ionization mass spectra, for a broad range of thermally labile compounds, with higher sensitivity than that achievable by particle beam LC-MS. The soft thermal vaporization nozzle is described and mass spectral results with corticosterone are demonstrated. The potential advantageous features of this new method are discussed.     

Thermal degradation of aliphatic polyamides studied by field ionization and field desorption mass spectrometry

The aliphatic polyamides nylon 6.6, 6.9, 6.10, 6.12, 12.6, 12.10, and 12.12 of the diamine dicarboxylic acid-type were pyrolyzed in the ion source of a double-focusing mass spectrometer and the thermal degradation products were recorded by field ionization (FI) and field desorption (FD) mass spectrometry (MS). In the FI mode, several series of thermal degradation products differing in the number of polymer repeating units were detected up to 1000 Daltons. The main products were oligomers and, in addition, protonated dinitriles and various protonated nitriles are formed in large amounts except for nylon 6.6 and nylon 12.6. These two polymers form, in contrast to all other samples, large amounts of protonated amides and diamines. The technique employed allows distinction between oligomers already present in the original polymer and oligomers formed by thermal fission of bonds in the polymer chain. Reaction mechanisms are given that explain the products observed. High resolution experiments and accurate mass measurements were performed to confirm the proposed structures. In the FD mode, cationized oligomers (attached mostly to a sodium cation) were observed below 200°C with the dimers being the base peak for most samples. In contrast to the FI results, the monomers were only detected at very low intensities. Similarly, only weak signals for additional thermal degradation products were registered except for nylon 12.6. At higher temperatures the FD mass spectra gave protonated and doubly protonated oligomers in the high mass range up to 2000 Daltons, which resulted in complementary structural information about the polymers.     

Surface ionization of organic compounds and its applications

Surface ionization of organic compounds in a weak external electric field involving the formation of many-atomic positive ions is considered (including specific features of the phenomenon, its major characteristics, experimental techniques used and possible applications).

Information is presented on the adsorption of compounds of complex composition which was obtained in studying the phenomenon. A detailed analysis is made of the reactions of particles in the adsorbed layer, as well as of the methods of determining the binding energies of the particles undergoing ionization (primary molecules and many-atomic radicals and complexes produced on the surface) to the surface, and of their lifetimes on the surface against thermal desorption in the charged and neutral states.

Vast possibilities are shown to open up by using the thermally equilibrium processes of many-atomic particle ionization occurring on the surface for the determination of the properties of molecules, radicals and complexes (e.g. thermal stability, the weakest bond energies in ions, ionization potentials of the particles analyzed).

The physicochemical aspects of the surface ionization-based detection of organic compounds and of its applications to analytical mass spectrometry, gas chromatography and analytical chemistry of the atmosphere are considered. Attention is focused upon the fact that the high ionization coefficients observed for a number of compounds ensure a record-high sensitivity when using surface ionization-based detection.     

Pyrolysis field ionization mass spectrometry of carbohydrates: Part b: Polysaccharides

The application of pyrolysis in combination with field ionization (FI) mass spectrometry for the characterization and identification of polysaccharides is reported. Polysaccharides such as xylan, agarose and alginic acid, which contain monomer subunits of different elemental composition, can be differentiated in a straightforward manner by the field ionization spectra of their Curie-point pyrolysates. Polysaccharides with hexosyl subunits, such as cellulose, galactan, laminaran and mannan, were pyrolysed by Curie-point pyrolysis and show photographically recorded FI spectra which differ in the relative heights of their pyrolysis peaks. Characteristic pyrolysis products are formed, which can be identified or assigned structures on the basis of accurate mass measurements, direct isotopic determination and by analogy with established chemical procedures and mechanisms.Oven pyrolysis of polysaccharides combined with electrical detection of the FI spectra at low mass resolution gives a higher sensitivity and better reproducibility for all peaks over the whole mass range. From sample amounts of about 40 μg, spectra are obtained by raising the oven temperature by 0.4°C/s. Utilizing repetitive magnetic scanning, registration and signal processing by the data system, the standard deviation of the peak heights for five repeated measurements is about 10%. Accumulation of about 30 spectra in a limited mass range on a multi-channel analyser gives results which vary by about 2–3% on average, despite a lower sample consumption (20–30 μg). Oven pyrolysis between 250 and 400°C yields significant differences in the spectra of differently linked mannans and allows an unequivocal differentiation of these isomers. Following FI, field desorption (FD) spectra were obtained from pyrolysis products condensed on the emitter surface by heating of the emitter wire between 10 and 30 mA. The cations of alkali metals, such as Na*, K* and Cs*, can be registered in this way. Most interesting is the detection of the molecular ions of monomer and oligomer subunits of the polysaccharides as complementary analytical information in the FD mode. Obviously, condensation of these neutral, thermal products on the emitter surface occurs without field ionization and desorption is initiated by supply of thermal energy to the adsorbed sample layer.     

Mass spectral fragmentation reactions of a therapeutic 4-azasteroid and related compounds

Mass spectra were acquired for a therapeutic 4-azasteroid (dutasteride), and some related compounds, using various ionization conditions (EI, CI, APCI and ESI) in both positive and negative ion modes. The ionization and fragmentation behavior of the compound dutasteride, its precursors and several analogs is reported. Positive atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI+) and positive electrospray ionization (ESI+) produced distinctive collision-induced dissociation (CID) spectra for the respective [MH]+ ions of dutasteride. The spectral differences are attributed to ion populations having either different structures or different internal energy distributions (as a consequence of the method of ionization). Irrespective of their origin, the protonated molecules undergo interesting fragmentation reactions when collisionally activated. The identity of the major fragmentation products was confirmed by accurate mass measurement. The negative APCI mass spectrum of dutasteride displays extensive dehydrohalogenation, apparently due to the thermal component of the APCI process. Some of the resulting radical anions display remarkable stability toward collisional decomposition. Details of the fragmentation behavior for the negative ion species and their relationship to the positive ion results are discussed.     

Study on thermal decomposition of polymers by evolved gas analysis using photoionization mass spectrometry (EGA-PIMS)

Photoionization mass spectrometry (PIMS) with vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) light source provides an efficient and fragmentation-free method for the soft ionization of gaseous compounds, in order to facilitate an understanding of thermal decomposition behavior and chemical composition of polymeric materials. The PIMS was applied to the evolved gas analysis (EGA) system equipped with a skimmer interface which is constituted based upon a jet separator principle between a vacuum MS chamber and an atmospheric sample chamber in a furnace. A photoionization source with a deuterium (D₂) lamp was closely installed to the vacuum ionization chamber of a mass spectrometer to improve the ionization efficiency. The thermal decomposition of typical polymers in inert gas atmosphere was investigated by the EGA-PIMS and the resulting PI mass spectrum was characterized satisfactorily by only the parent ions with no contribution as a result of fragmentation during the ionization. The results suggested that the EGA-PIMS was an especially powerful and desirable in situ thermal analysis method for polymeric materials which evolve organic gases simultaneously and concurrently. The combination of EGA equipped with skimmer interface with no change of evolved gaseous species and PIMS with fragmentation-free during the ionization is described briefly, and the effective results are presented by comparing with EGA using conventional electron impact ionization mass spectrometry.     

Compositional analysis of isobutylene/p-methylstyrene copolymers by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry

A low molecular weight predominantly polyolefin copolymer of isobutylene and para methylstyrene (IMS) was studied using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry. Average composition information derived from the spectra was skewed to higher para methylstyrene (pMS) content as compared to that obtained using multiple NMR techniques, and drifted towards lower pMS incorporation at higher oligomer lengths. Although both observations were initially attributed in total to an inability to ionize the isobutylene component, comparison with subsequent field desorption (FD) mass spectrometry results gave similar values to that obtained via MALDI, even though FD ionizes oligomers not detected by MALDI. Instead, the compositional drift observed with MALDI roughly mirrored the mass distribution, and was determined to arise from a mass bias effect in oligomer ionization and detection. Composition with respect to oligomer mass was found to be relatively constant, although similarly higher in pMS content. Comparison of experimental peaks with a Bernoullian statistical model revealed severe overrepresentation of higher pMS composition oligomers with regard to the calculated distribution. This discrepancy is attributed to preferential ionization of oligomers with greater pMS content, and likely results in the observed difference between MALDI and NMR compositions.     

Low-resolution accurate mass measurement in self-chemical ionization mass spectrometry

Low-resolution (2000, 10% valley definition) accurate mass measurements using self-chemical ionization (self-CI) have been evaluated as an alternative to the conventional chemical ionization (CI) method. In conventional CI experiments a high pressure of reagent gas is required to induce ionization while in self-CI no reagent gas is used and the self-CI is produced presumably by molecular/fragment ion–molecule reactions. Nine compounds ranging in mass from 50–500 daltons were examined. Results obtained by the self-CI method indicate that the elemental composition assignment can be obtained simultaneously for the protonated molecule and/or molecular ion. It is also shown that perfluorokerosene can be used routinely in self-CI as an internal reference standard over a broad mass range (50–500 daltons). It is sometimes difficult to use a single reference standard in conventional low-resolution CI accurate mass spectrometry over a similar mass range.     

电喷雾电离质谱鉴定合成莱克多巴胺的副反应产物

采用电喷雾电离质谱(ESI-MS)结合碰撞诱导解离(CA)技术分析了合成莱克多巴胺(Ractopamine)产品溶液中目标化合物和副反应产物。根据一级和二级质谱图确定了反应副产物的化学结构,4种副产物分别为Ractopamine脱去水分子、再氢化及烃羟基甲醚化和乙醚化而形成的。质谱方法提供的分子量、分子结构信息对改进反应条件、减少副反应发生、提高产品收率具有指导作用。     

Negative ion-atmospheric pressure photoionization-mass spectrometry

The ionization mechanism in the novel atmospheric pressure photoionization mass spectrometry (APPI-MS) in negative ion mode was studied thoroughly by the analysis of seven compounds in 17 solvent systems. The compounds possessed either gas-phase acidity or positive electron affinity, whereas the solvent systems had different polarities and gas-phase acidities and some of them positive electron affinities. The analytes that possessed gas-phase acidity formed deprotonated ions in proton transfer; in addition, fragments and solvent adducts were observed. The compounds of positive electron affinity formed negative molecular ions by electron capture or charge exchange and substitution products of form [M - X + O](-) by substitution reactions. The efficiency of deprotonation was decreased if the solvent used possessed higher gas-phase acidity than the analyte. Solvents of positive electron affinity captured thermal electrons and deteriorated the ionization of all the analytes. Also, the proportion of substitution products was affected by the solvent. Finally, the performances of negative ion APPI and negative ion APCI were compared. The sensitivity for the studied compounds was better in APPI, but the formation of substitution products was lower in APCI.     

Electrospray/VUV single-photon ionization mass spectrometry for the analysis of organic compounds

For the comprehensive analysis of organic compounds, especially thermal labile and nonpolar compounds, an electrospray/vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) single-photon ionization (ES-SPI) method was developed. The fine droplets of the sample solution from the electrospray process were directed through a quartz capillary and two skimmers to form a molecular beam into a high vacuum ionization chamber. The neutral sample molecules were softly ionized with tunable VUV light and analyzed with a reflection time-of-flight mass spectrometer (RTOF-MS). The ionization energy (IE) and appearance onsets of fragments were obtained based on the photoionization efficiency (PIE) spectrum. The isomers can also be distinguished. With this new method, clean (fragment-free) mass spectra of nonpolar compounds, such as benzene, cyclohexane, and some thermal labile solid compounds (triphenylamine, thioacetamide, and urea) have been obtained without any tedious pretreatment. The components of complex mixtures (gasoline and kerosene) can be identified. Furthermore, quantitative analysis of the components can be obtained based on photoionization cross section data. This method may be used for quantitative analysis of small biomolecules and natural products.     

Significant differences in site of protonation and extent of fragmentations in chemical ionization and fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry of simple bifunctional compounds. A mechanistic implication for formation of protonated molecules

Chemical ionization (CI) and fast atom bombardment (FAB) mass spectra of simple bifunctional aromatic compounds were compared. Some significant differences were revealed with respect to the site of protonation and extent of fragmentations. Unlike conventional CI ionization, the protonated molecule formation by FAB could not be accounted for by ordinary proton transfer reactions in the gas phase. The observed ions under FAB conditions appear to be regulated by proton exchange reactions through frequent collisions in some particular region between the matrix and the gas phase.     

脐橙果皮的室温和热辅助表面解吸常压化学电离质谱的比较

以脐橙果皮为研究对象,比较了室温和热辅助表面解吸常压化学电离源(DAPCI)的解吸电离特性,结合串联质谱技术,对果皮中香气、糖、黄酮类等主要成分进行了鉴定,并通过主成分分析(PCA)方法对热辅助DAPCI-MS所获外果皮指纹谱图信息进行分析,进而区分了3个不同产地脐橙。 结果表明,室温DAPCI-MS对脐橙果皮中的香气成分具有较强的解吸电离能力,而热辅助DAPCI-MS则更适合于分析果皮中的黄酮类和糖类及其衍生物。 DAPCI-MS具有灵敏度高、分析速度快等特点,有望成为农产品品质快速检测与产地识别研究的新方法。     

Acetonitrile/water gas-phase reaction products observed by use of atmospheric pressure chemical ionization: adducts formed with sulfonamides

Electrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) are the two most common mass spectrometric ionization methods used in the pharmaceutical industry. However, APCI analysis can sometimes lead to ambiguity in compound characterization and quantitation due to gas-phase reactions occurring between acetonitrile and water in the plasma, and between these plasma-generated compounds and the analyte. During the analysis of various sultams and sulfonamides we observed signals corresponding to m/z [M+44](+) and [M+60](+). Various solvent conditions and collisionally activated dissociation MS(n) experiments revealed that under the high-energy plasma conditions of APCI, the acetonitrile/water solvent mixture reacts undergoing acid-catalyzed hydrolysis producing acetamide, 59 Da. Further, the highly reactive 43 Da species ethanimine is also produced. These two compounds, normally not observed in APCI analysis, are stabilized by the sulfonamide and appear as adduct species in the mass spectra. The sulfone oxygens and the lone pair of electrons on the amide nitrogen play a role in stabilizing this adduct.     

Ring Contraction Reaction of 4H-1,3-Oxazin-4-ones under Electrospray Ionization Conditions

Ring contraction reactions of heterocyclic compounds under mass ionization conditions are important and interesting phenomenon.[1] It should be very useful to elucidate the fragmentation of some novel heterocyclic compounds and to identify the structures of some effective compounds in a screened library by mass spectrometric method, which is an easy and available method for identification of effective members in a library due to development of LC-MS. Recently several ring contraction reactions have been reported in literatures.     

Pyrolysis—field ionization mass spetrometric investigation of polymeric heterocycles: I. polyquinolines and polyquinoxalines

Pyrolysis—field ionization mass spectrometry was used for the investigation of the mechanism of the thermal degradation of polymeric heterocycles. Heat-resistant polymers containing aromatic and heterocyclic units such as polyquinolines and polyquinoxalines have a strong tendency to form large condensed systems during pyrolysis, and finally will carbonize. In the course of this process, side-groups (phenyl) and small fragments (NH₃, HCN, acetonitrile, acrylonitrile, etc.) are split off. In addition, large heteroatom-containing fragments such as nitriles can be identified. These, together with some fragments that contain the complete heterocyclic ring, are characteristic of the chain building units (“key fragments”). Furthermore, compounds generated by recombination reactions and intramolecular cyclization are constituents of the pyrolysate.