Dimethyl ether and dimethyl-d6 ether chemical ionization mass spectrometry of nitramines,nitroaromatics and related compounds

Dimethyl ether (DME) chemical ionization mass spectrometry with introduction by direct exposure desorption was utilized for the characterization of a variety of nitramines, nitroaromatics and related compounds. For the nitramines and for many of the nitroaromatics the most abundant ions were fragment-molecule adduct ions resulting from ion-molecule reactions with the reagent gas. Nitroaromatic positional isomers were readily distinguished by large differences in the abundances of the various adduct ions. For the nitramines, collision-induced dissociations of the prominent methoxymethylene adduct ions were studied and contrasted with those of the corresponding adducts derived from DME-d₆ as reagent gas.