Abstract: | The most abundant fragment produced by electron bombardment of esters of the type R1R2C(OR3)CO2R4 is the R1R2C = \documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$ \mathop {\rm O}\limits^{{\rm + } \cdot } $\end{document} R3 ion. Methyl glycollate (R1 = R2 = R3 = H, R4 = Me) eliminates the HCO˙ radical by a complex rearrangement involving the methylenic hydrogen atoms. The methyl and ethyl esters of methoxyacetic acid (R1 = R2 = H, R3 = Me, R4 = Me or Et) eliminate formaldehyde by the McLafferty rearrangement. |