Evidence for the direct desorption of crown ether-metal ion complexes in liquid secondary Ionization Mass Spectrometry.

The liquid secondary ionization mass spectra of crown ether solutions and crown ether solutions containing alkali metal cations were generated. Cesium cations acted as both the primary ion beam and as a competing gas-selvedge-phase reactant. The data suggest that crown ether complexes formed in the condensed phase survive intact the fast ion bombarding event and the transition into the gas phase. The data further suggest that crown ether complexes formed in the condensed phase predominate in the ion spectrum over the corresponding complexes formed in the selvedge.