An intriguing "reversible reaction" in the fragmentation of deprotonated dicamba and benzoic acid in a Q-orbitrap mass spectrometer: loss and addition of carbon dioxide.

CONCLUSIONS: Under collisional activation, the deprotonated dicamba and benzoic acids easily undergo carbon dioxide loss, but the decarboxylated product anions have an appropriate nucleophilicity to carbon dioxide and they can capture a background carbon dioxide molecule remaining in the vacuum system to regenerate the precursor ions. This study provides a new and deeper understanding of the gas-phase chemistry of deprotonated benzoic acid derivatives in mass spectrometry.
PMID: 32666557 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry : RCM - July 13, 2020 Category: Chemistry Authors: Chai Y, Chen H, Lu C Tags: Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom Source Type: research