Cationated cyclopropanes as reaction intermediates in mass spectra: an earlier incarnation of ion-neutral complexes

The appearance a decade ago of the concept of ion-neutral complexes as intermediates in unimolecular decompositions constituted a major advance in mechanistic interpretation of mass spectra. The concept, however, was not new; it goes back to the introduction of the cationated cyclopropane in the mid-1950s. Its development did not occur via a smooth progression; rather, its history bridges a sharp discontinuity. The early workers, in a curious historical quirk, failed to generalize on the idea beyond complexes in which the neutral component is cyclopropane or a closely related species. Hence it took an independent rediscovery of the concept to usher in the rapid growth and wide application that characterize its present stage of development.