Electrospray tandem mass spectrometric study of alkyl 1-methylpyridinium ether derivatives of alcohols.

The fragmentation of 15 alkyl 1-methylpyridinium ether derivatives (D+) of primary and secondary alcohols, benzylic alcohols and phenyl-substituted alcohols was investigated using energy-resolved tandem mass spectrometry. Fragmentation pathways and mechanisms, including the influence of substituents, on the formation of the major product ions, which appear at m/z 110, D - 109]+ and D - 111]+, were postulated. Comparison of the abundances of these ions in the product ion spectra of isomeric alcohol derivatives, obtained at the same center-of-mass collision energy (2.0 eV), was found to provide the ability to differentiate among some isomers.