How does a CC double bond cleave in the gas phase? Fragmentation of protonated ketotifen in mass spectrometry

Intramolecular Halogen Atom Coordinated H Transfer via Ion-Neutral Complex in the Gas Phase Dissociation of Protonated Dichlorvos Derivatives

Intramolecular halogen atom coordinated H transfer reaction in the gas phase dissociation of protonated dichlorvos derivatives has been explored by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. Upon collisional activation, protonated dichlorvos underwent dissociation reaction via cleavage of the P-O bond to give reactive ion-neutral complex (INC) intermediate, [dimethoxylphosphinoylium + dichloroacetaldehyde]. Besides direct dissociation of the complex, intramolecular chlorine atom coordinated H transfer reaction within the complex takes place, leading to the formation of protonated dimethyl chlorophosphate. To investigate the fragmentation mechanism, deuterium-labeled experiments and several other halogen-substituted (Br and F) analogs of dichlorvos were prepared and evaluated, which display a similar intramolecular halogen transfer. Density functional theory (DFT)-based calculations were performed and the computational results also support the mechanism. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.

Loss of benzaldehyde in the fragmentation of protonated benzoylamines: Benzoyl cation as a hydride acceptor in the gas phase

In electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry of protonated 1-benzoylamines (1-benzoylpiperadine, 1-benzoylmorpholine, and 1-benzoyl-4-methylpiperazine), the dominant fragmentation pathway was amide bond cleavage to form benzoyl cation and neutral amine. Meanwhile, in their fragmentations, an interesting loss of benzaldehyde (106 Da) was observed and identified to derive from hydride transfer reaction between the benzoyl cation and amine. A stepwise mechanism for loss of 106 Da (benzene and CO) could be excluded with the aid of deuterium labeling experiment. Theoretical calculations indicated that hydride transfers from amines (piperadine, morpholine, and 1-methylpiperazine) to benzoyl cation were thermodynamically permitted, and 1-methylpiperazine was the best hydride donor among the 3 amines. The mass spectrometric experimental results were consistent with the computational results. The relative abundance of the iminium cation (relative to the benzoyl cation) in the fragmentation of protonated 1-benzoyl-4-methylpiperazine was higher than that in the fragmentation of the other 2 protonated 1-benzoylamines. By comparing the fragmentations of protonated 1-benzyl-4-methylpiperazine and protonated 1-benzoyl-4-methylpiperazine and the energetics of their hydride transfer reactions, this study revealed that benzoyl cation was a hydride acceptor in the gas phase, but which was weaker than benzyl cation.

Collision-induced dissociation pathways of H1-antihistamines by electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Over the past decades, mass spectrometry technologies have been developed to obtain mass accuracies of one ppm or less. Of the newly developed technologies, quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (Q-TOF-MS) has emerged as being well suited to routine and high-throughput analyses of pharmaceuticals. Dietary supplements and functional foods have frequently been found to be contaminated with pharmaceuticals. In our continuous efforts to develop methodologies to protect public health against adulterated dietary supplements, we have constructed a mass spectral database for 21 H₁-antihistamines encountered as adulterants by using liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization (LC-ESI)/Q-TOF-MS, and have proposed their possible collision-induced dissociation pathways. This database will be very useful for the rapid and accurate detection of H₁-antihistamines (known) and their analogues (unknown) illegally added to dietary supplements as well as in other sample matrices.