Characterization of ammonium chloride derivatives by salt clustering in electrospray mass spectrometry.
Clustering of ammonium chloride salts was studied using an electrospray source to characterize the form, mono- vs. dihydrochloride, of organic compounds by mass spectrometry. This new way of taking advantage of cluster formation is applied to aminomethylacridines as their storage requires the synthesis of such derivatives. Both positive and negative cluster mass spectra were obtained and allowed the determination of the nature of the hydrochloride forms as the salt mass is straightforwardly derived from the mass of the cluster monomer, calculated from singly and multiply charged ion distributions. The identity of the counterion is confirmed from the mass of the ionic moieties in the clusters.
Charles
Laurence
L
Centre Régional de Spectrométrie de Masse, Boite 511, Faculté des Sciences de Saint Jérôme, 13397 Marseille Cedex 20, France. laurence.charles@univ.u-3mrs.fr
Chiron
Julien
J
Galy
Jean-Pierre
JP