Investigation of doubly charged organic cations by electrospray ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry

Abstract

AbstractThe production and detection of doubly charged organic cations were studied using a previously unreported approach—electrospray ionization coupled with Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. Owing to its ultra‐high mass resolution, accurate and stable mass calibration, multiple stages of collisionally activated dissociation (CAD) allowing tandem mass spectrometry and extremely long ion storage times (> 1 min), this technique has proven to be a powerful method for the detection and study of doubly charged organic compounds. CAD studies were used for the identification of ion–molecule reactions and for the investigation of the propensity towards gas‐phase SN1 and SN2 reaction pathways. To date exclusively SN1‐type reactions in the gas phase have been detected. Three doubly charged pyridinium salts were chosen as model compounds for this study.