Abstract
It is shown that the peaks at m/z 31, 29 and 15 in the mass-analyzed ion kinetic energy spectrum of the m/z 59 ions generated from methyl propanoate upon electron impact ionization originate from decompositions of m/z 59, i.e. C2H3O2+ ions having the O=C=O+CH3 structure, and of m/z 59, i.e. C3H7O+ ions having the CH3CH=O+CH3 structure. The latter ions contribute <1% to the total abundance of the m/z 59 ions in the standard mass spectrum. However, these m/z 59 C3H7O+ ions are responsible for the relatively significant amounts of the m/z 31 and 29 ions generated in the microsecond time frame. Based upon deuterium labelling and supported by calculations at the ROHF/6–31G* level of theory, the m/z 59 C3H7O+ ions are suggested to be formed via a complex skeletal rearrangement of the molecular ions of methyl propanoate and subsequent loss of a formyl radical. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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