title: Enantiodiscrimination of chiral alpha-aminophosphonic acids by mass spectrometry.
abstract: Diastereomeric clusters between first-group metal ions (M(+)) and chiral alpha-aminophosphonic acids (A and B) have been readily generated in the gas phase by electrospray ionization (ESI) and their fragmentation investigated by mass spectrometry. The complexes studied had the general formula [MA(S)B(2)](+) and [MA(R)B(2)](+), where M = H, Li, Na, or K, A(S) and A(R) are the two enantiomers of a given acid A, and B is a reference alpha-aminophosphonic acid of defined configuration. Collision-induced decomposition (CID) of [MA(S)B(2)](+) and [MA(R)B(2)](+) leads to fragmentation patterns characterized by [MAB](+)/[MB(2)] abundance ratios which depend on the configuration of ligand A. These different spectral features were correlated to the different stability of the diastereomeric [MA(S)B(2)](+) and [MA(R)B(2)](+) complexes in the gas phase. The results have been discussed in the light of MM2 Molecular Mechanics Force Field calculations.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Roma La Sapienza, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paladini
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Calcagni
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Di Palma
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Speranza
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Laganà
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fago
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Filippi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Satta
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giardini Guidoni