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Mass spectrometry of onium compounds—II. Carnitine and O ‐acyl derivatives
Author(s) -
Hvistendahl Georg,
Undheim Kjell,
Bremer Jon
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
organic mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.475
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9888
pISSN - 0030-493X
DOI - 10.1002/oms.1210031112
Subject(s) - chemistry , trimethylamine , intramolecular force , mass spectrometry , fragmentation (computing) , pyrolytic carbon , carnitine , stereochemistry , organic chemistry , pyrolysis , biochemistry , chromatography , computer science , operating system
Carnitine and its O ‐acyl derivatives undergo two major pyrolytic reactions in the mass spectrometer. Firstly elimination of water from carnitine or acid from acylcarnitine takes place followed by intramolecular displacement and formation of crotonyl lactone and trimethylamine. Secondly intramolecular displacement occurs with formation of a substituted γ‐lactone and trimethylamine. For the lower acid derivatives only the elimination pathway is important. For carnitine and higher derivatives both processes are important. The electron induced fragmentations of the major pyrolysis products are relatively simple. The most important pathways for the major components are discussed. The pyrolytic composition and mode of fragmentation are characteristic and can be used for identification purposes.