Interpreting Mass Spectra
- When a compound is analysed in a mass spectrometer, vaporised molecules are bombarded with a beam of high-speed electrons
- These knock off an electron from some of the molecules, creating molecular ions:
- The relative abundances of the detected ions form a mass spectrum: a kind of molecular fingerprint that can be identified by computer using a spectral database
- The peak with the highest m/z value is the molecular ion (M+) peak which gives information about the molecular mass of the compound
- This value of m/z is equal to the relative molecular mass of the compound
The M+1 peak
- The [M+1] peak is a smaller peak which is due to the natural abundance of the isotope carbon-13
- 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
Worked example
Determine whether the following mass spectrum belongs to propanal or butanal
Answer:
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- The mass spectrum corresponds to propanal as the molecular ion peak is at m/z = 58
- Propanal arises from the CH3CH2CHO+ ion which has a molecular mass of 58
- Butanal arises from the CH3CH2CH2CHO+ ion which has a molecular mass of 72