• Mass spectroscopy?is an analytical technique used to identify unknown compounds
• The molecules in the small sample are?bombarded?with high energy electrons which can cause the molecule to lose an electron
• This results in the formation of a positively charged?molecular?ion?with one unpaired electron
  • One of the electrons in the pair has been?removed?by the beam of electrons

   

• The?[M+1]?peak is a smaller peak which is due to the natural abundance of the isotope carbon-13
• The amount of naturally occurring C-13 is a little over 1%, so the [M+1] peak is very small
• The height of the [M+1] peak for a particular ion depends on how many carbon atoms are present in that molecule; the more carbon atoms, the larger the [M+1] peak is
  • For example, the height of the [M+1] peak for an hexane (containing six carbon atoms) ion will be greater than the height of the [M+1] peak of an ethane (containing two carbon atoms) ion

   

Answer

• • The mass spectrum corresponds to pent-1-ene as the molecular ion peak is at?m/z?= 70
    • The small peak at m/z = 71 is a C-13 peak, which does not count as the molecular ion peak
  • But-1-ene arises from the C4H8+?ion which has a molecular mass of 56
  • Pent-1-ene arises from the C5H10+?ion which has a molecular mass of 70

• The molecular ion can further?fragment?to form new ions, molecules, and radicals

Fragmentation of a molecule in mass spectroscopy

• These?fragmented?ions are?accelerated?by an electric field
• Based on their mass (m) to charge (z) ratio, the ion fragments are then separated by deflecting them into the?detector
  • Most ions will only gain a charge of 1+ and therefore a ion with mass 12 and charge 1+ will have an?m/z?value of 12
  • It is, however, possible for a greater charge to occur. For example, an ion with mass 16 and charge 2+ will have a?m/z?value of 8

   

• The smaller and more positively charged fragment ions will be?detected?first as they will get?deflected?the most and are more attracted to the?negative?pole?of the magnet
• Each fragment corresponds to a specific?peak?with a particular?m/z?value in the mass spectrum
• The?base peak?is the peak corresponding to the most?abundant?ion
• The?m/z?is sometimes referred to as the?m/e?ratio and it is almost always?1:1

Isotopes

• Isotopes are different atoms of the?same?element?that contain the same number of?protons?and?electrons?but a different number of?neutrons.
  • These are atoms of the same?elements?but with different mass number
  • For example, Cl-35 and Cl-37 are isotopes as they are both atoms of the same element (chlorine, Cl) but have a different mass number (35 and 37 respectively)

   

• Mass spectroscopy can be used to find the?relative abundance?of the isotopes experimentally
• The?relative abundance?of an isotope is the proportion of one particular isotope in a mixture of isotopes found in nature
  • For example, the relative abundance of Cl-35 and Cl-37 is 75% and 25% respectively
  • This means that in nature, 75% of the chlorine atoms is the Cl-35 isotope and 25% is the Cl-37 isotope

   

• The?heights?of the peaks in mass spectroscopy show the proportion of each isotope present

The peak heights show the relative abundance of the boron isotopes: boron-10 has a relative abundance of 19.9% and boron-11 has a relative abundance of 80.1%

Answer

• • 56Fe3+?has a smaller?m/z?ratio and will therefore be deflected more.
  • It also has the largest positive charge and will be more attracted to the negative pole of the magnet within the mass spectrometer.

   

Fragmentation

• The molecular ion peak can be used to identify the?molecular mass?of a compound
• However, different compounds may have the same molecular mass
• To further determine the structure of the unknown compound,?fragmentation?is used
• Fragments may appear due to the formation of?characteristic?fragments?or the?loss?of?small?molecules
  • For example, a peak at 29 is due to the characteristic fragment C2H5+--
  • Loss of small molecules give rise to peaks at 18 (H2O), 28 (CO), and 44 (CO2)

   

Alkanes

• Simple alkanes are fragmented in mass spectroscopy by breaking the C-C bonds
• M/e?values of some of the common alkane fragments are given in the table below

m/e?Values of Fragments Table

Mass spectrum showing the fragmentation of C10H22

Halogenoalkanes

• Halogenoalkanes often have multiple peaks around the molecular ion peak
• This is caused by the fact that there are different isotopes of the halogens

Mass spectrum showing different isotopes of bromine in the molecular ion

Alcohols

• Alcohols often tend to lose a?water molecule?giving rise to a peak at?18 below the molecular ion
• Another common peak is found at?m/e?value 31 which corresponds to the CH2OH+-- fragment
• For example, the mass spectrum of propan-1-ol shows that the compound has fragmented in four different ways:
  • Loss of H??to form a C3H7O+?fragment with?m/e?= 59
  • Loss of a water molecule to form a C3H6+?fragment with?m/e?= 42
  • Loss of a??C2H5?to form a CH2OH+?fragment with?m/e?= 31
  • And the loss of??CH2OH to form a C2H5+?fragment with?m/e?= 29

   

Mass spectrum showing the fragmentation patterns in propan-1-ol (alcohol)

Answer

The correct answer is option?D

• • Bromomethane (CH3Br) can produce 3 peaks
    • CH381Br → [CH381Br]+?+ e??at m/e 96
    • CH379Br → [CH379Br]+?+ e??at m/e 94
    • CH3Br → [CH3]+?+??Br at m/e 15

     

  • The last two peaks (which correspond to the molecular ion peak) therefore are equal in size and occur at?m/e?values of 94 and 96

   

Alcohol fragmentation

Which alcohol is not likely to have a fragment ion at m/e at 43 in its mass spectrum?

A. (CH3)2CHCH2OH

B. CH3CH(OH)CH2CH2CH3

C. CH3CH2CH2CH2OH

D. CH3CH2CH(OH)CH3

Answer

The correct answer is option?D

• • Because a line at m/e = 43 corresponds to an ion with a mass of 43 for example:
    • [CH3CH2CH2]+
    • [(CH3)2CH]+
  • 2-butanol is not likely to have a fragment at m/e = 43 as it does not have either of these fragments in its structure.