Thermospray mass spectrometry of diazonium and di-, tri- and tetra-quaternary onium salts

Various diazonium, multiply charged ammonium and pyridinium salts and one diphosphonium salt have been analysed by thermospray (TSP) mass spectrometry. The intact cation forms the base peak in all spectra. Typically only a few, yet structurally significant, ions are observed. For diazonium salts the level of fragmentation can be controlled by the temperature of the TSP interface while the fragmentation of the quaternary salts is found to be rather insensitive to interface temperatures.