A study of the electrospray ionisation and ion trap fragmentation of hemiterpenoid and dimeric coumarin derivatives

The electrospray ionisation (ESI) of selected hemiterpenoid and dimeric coumarin derivatives and their subsequent fragmentation using an ion trap mass spectrometer are reported and discussed. Sequential product ion fragmentation experiments (MS(n)) were performed in order to elucidate the degradation pathways for these compounds. The results illustrate that the observed characteristic fragmentation patterns are of considerable utility in the application of ESI mass spectrometry to the characterisation of this class of compounds.