Unit 2 Section 4 Mass Spectrometry
- Created by: mtgriffiths
- Created on: 07-04-16 17:23
Finding Relative Molecular Mass
- Remember - to find the relative molecular mass of a compound you look at the molecular ion peak (the M peak) on the spectrum.
- Molecular ions are formed when molecules have electrons knocked off.
- The mass/charge value of the molecular ion peak is the molecular mass (assuming the ion has 1+ charge, which it normally will have).
- For most organic compounds the M peak is the one with the second highest mass/charge ratio.
- Its M peak is 72 - so the compounds Mr is 72.
- The smaller peak to the right of the M peak is called the M+1 peak - It's caused by the presence of the carbon isotope C-13.
Fragmentation
- The bombarding electrons make some of the molecular ions break up into fragments.
- The fragments that are ions show up on the mass spectrum, making a fragmentation pattern which can be used to identify molecules and their structures.
- First you need to identify the fragments. 15 - CH3, 17 - OH, etc. To find the other fragments just add combinations of C-12, H-1 and O-16.
- The next step is to piece them all together to form a molecule with the correct Mr (72 for this example is CH3CH2CH2CH2CH3+).
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