Reaction of ammonia with accelerated benzoyl ions under multiple-collison conditions in a triple quadrupole instrument

The reaction of benzoyl ion with ammonia in multiple-collision conditions in the second quadrupole assembly of a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer at (laboratory) ion kinetic energies from 0 to 20 eV produced the even-electron ions [C₆H₅]⁺, [C₆H₅NH₃·(NH₃)_m]⁺ (m = 0, 1) and [C₆H₅CONH₃·(NH₃)_n]⁺ (n = 0, 1, 2, 3) and the odd-electron ions [C₆H₄NH₃·(NH₃)_p]⁺· (p = 0, 1). Thermochemical information could not be obtained under multiple-collision conditions: both exothermic and endothermic reactions were observed, with no translational-energy onset measurable for the endothermic processes, nor decrease in the yield of the exothermic processes at high energies. The behaviour of cluster-ion intensities as pressure varied was qualitatively as expected. There are pressure and energy regions where spectra change little; if this feature were to be general, it would point to some utility for these conditions in qualitative analysis.     

Post-source decay time-of-flight study of fragmentation mechanisms of protonated synthetic polymers under matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization conditions

Post-source decay (PSD) of three different nylon oligomers desorbed under matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) conditions was studied and their fragmentation pathways were investigated. The fragmentation of the protonated oligomers is very similar to that of peptides. The b(n)(+), y(n)(+) and z(n)(+) series of ions were observed in abundance in the PSD spectrum. The end groups and the length of the spacer in the repeating unit influence the fragmentation of the different polyamides and the relative abundances of the product ions. Competitive dehydration and deamination reactions were observed, and depend on the nature of the end groups and the repeating units. The PSD spectra are very similar to collision-induced dissociation (CID) spectra obtained under low-energy conditions, implying that the selected precursor ions possess similar average internal energies. All the peaks observed in the PSD spectrum can be rationalized by reasonable fragmentation mechanisms.     

Gas phase substitution under ammonia chemical ionization

Evidence for the isomerization of the [M + NH₄]⁺ adducts of nitrobenzene and triphenylnitrocyclohexenes to the isonitroso derivatives in the first field free region has been obtained. The isomerized adducts undergo successive loss of ?O and ?H or NH₃ to give ions corresponding to the substitution products. Mass analysed ion kinetic energy and collisionally activated dissociation/mass analysed ion kinetic energy data reveal that the adduct decomposes by similar pathways in the second field free region. In the ion source an addition elimination reaction and nucleophilic substitution contribute to the formation of the substituted product ion.     

Cathodic adsorptive stripping voltammetric behaviour of guanine in the presence of copper at the static mercury drop electrode

The cathodic adsorptive electrochemical behavior of guanine in the presence of some metal ions at the static mercury drop electrode was investigated. A 1.0×10⁻³ mol l⁻¹ NaOH or a 2.0×10⁻² mol l⁻¹ Hepes buffer at pH 8.0 solutions were used as supporting electrolytes. The reduction peak potential for guanine was found to be around −0.15 V, which is very close to the mercury reduction wave. A new peak appears at −0.60 V in the presence of copper or at −1.05 V in the presence of zinc. A square wave voltammetric procedure for electroanalytical determination of guanine in 2.0×10⁻² mol l⁻¹ Hepes buffer at pH 8.0 containing 1.6×10⁻⁵ mol l⁻¹of copper ions, was developed. An accumulation potential of −0.15 V during 270 s for the prior adsorption of guanine at the electrode surface was used. The response of the system was found to be linear in the range of guanine concentration from 6.62×10⁻⁸ to 1.32×10⁻⁷ mol l⁻¹ and the detection limit was 7.0×10⁻⁹ mol l⁻¹. The influence of DNA bases such as adenine, cytosine and thymine was also examined. Cyclic voltammetry was used to characterize the interfacial and redox mechanism.     

Structural characterization of fatty acids cationized with copper by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry under low-energy collision-induced dissociation

Fatty acids have for many years been characterized by mass spectrometry using electron ionization after chemical derivatization. When fatty acids are ionized using desorption/ionization methods such as electrospray ionization or fast atom bombardment, structural information is usually obtained through high-energy collision-induced dissociation (CID) using sector instruments. It has been shown that copper displays very interesting properties in the gas phase during CID. In this study, the reactivity of saturated and unsaturated fatty acid-copper [M-H+Cu(II)]+ complex and the role of the copper ion in promoting fragmentations were investigated under low-energy collisional activation conditions. The decomposition of these species in an ion trap instrument led to diagnostic ion series that reflect C--C bond cleavage, which involves Cu(II) reduction followed by the release of an alkyl radical. It was demonstrated that in this way the localization of one or two homoconjugated double bonds is possible using low-energy CID. Moreover, the distinction of cis and trans isomers is possible through characteristic product ions related to a specific loss of CO2. When these experiments are repeated using a triple-quadrupole instrument with argon as collision gas, a different behavior is observed as in this case, in addition to the product ion distributions observed in the ion trap, other distributions are observed that reflect the influence of the different kinetic shifts and the occurrence of consecutive decompositions. Different examples are presented with various saturated and unsaturated fatty acid chains. Mechanisms are proposed in order to rationalize the experimental observations.     

Ultra fast synthesis of zinc oxide nanostructures by microwaves

We describe a novel route for the synthesis of nanostructured zinc oxide powder using a modified kitchen microwave. A SiC-based composite showing a very strong absorption of microwaves was used as a microwave heater. Tests showed that high temperatures exceeding 1700 C can be reached in less than hundred second exposure of the composite material of microwaves. Zinc oxide nanopowder was obtained by evaporation and oxidation of metallic zinc in the ambient atmosphere of the microwave oven. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) techniques revealed the prepared powder includes a wide variety of nanostructures including nanoparticles, nanosheets and tetrapods.     

A computational and experimental study of cation affinity (Na+) of nucleobases and modified nucleobases by electrospray ionization ion trap mass spectrometry

Gas-phase Na+ affinities of modified or unmodified nucleobases were determined theoretically at the density functional theory level, with the B3P86 functional and the 6-31 + G* basis set, and experimentally using electrospray ionization ion trap mass spectrometry (ESI-ITMS) and the kinetic method. For the calculations, the sodium cation affinities (SCA) were obtained from energies of the most stable complexes of the free nucleobases. Experimentally and theoretically relative scales of cation affinities were determined using eight modified and unmodified nucleobases and a very good agreement was obtained.     

Ab initio calculations of proton affinities of glycine, proline, cysteine and phenylalanine: comparison with the experimental values obtained using an electrospray ionisation ion trap mass spectrometer

The proton affinities of four characteristic amino acids, glycine, proline, cysteine and phenylalanine, have been calculated using three different types of wave function, HF, DFT and MP2. These wave functions were combined with several basis sets using the valence double- or triple-xi with polarisation functions, and included or not a diffuse d function on heavy atoms. Calculations were carried out using Gaussian 98 on a LINUX system (2 GHz, 2 GB of RAM). The calculated results have been compared with the experimental values obtained using Cooks' kinetic method, in particular on an electrospray ionisation ion trap mass spectrometer. An excellent agreement was found between the experimental values and the theoretical results obtained using the B3P86/6-31+G*//B3LYP/6-31G* level.