Dissociation characteristics of [M + X](+) ions (X = H, Li, Na, K) from linear and cyclic polyglycols.

The unimolecular reactions of protonated and metalated polyglycols with kiloelectronvolt translational energies have been studied by collisionally activated dissociation and neutralization-reionization mass spectrometry. The former method provides information on the ionic dissociation products, whereas the latter allows for the identification of the complementary neutral losses. Protonated linear polyglycols mainly undergo charge-initiated decompositions that lead to eliminations of smaller oligomers, On the other hand, protonated crown ethers ("cyclic" polyglycols) favor charge-induced reactions that proceed by cleavages of two ethylene oxide units in the form of 1,4-dioxane. Replacement of one O by NH in the crown ether dramatically changes its unimolecular chemistry; now, charge-remote 1,4-eliminations from ring-opened isomers are preferred. Charge-remote reactions are also the major decomposition channels of all metalated precursors studied. The linear polyglycols decompose primarily by 1,4-H2 eliminations and to a lesser extent by homolytic cleavages near chain ends. The reverse is true for metalated crown ethers, which preferentially produce distonic radical cations by the loss of saturated radicals; these reactions are proposed to involve prior rearrangement to open-chain isomers. The nature of the metal ion (Li(+), Na(+), or K(+)) does not greatly affect the unimolecular chemistry of the cationized polyglycol. In general, metalated precursors form many abundant fragment ions over the entire mass range; hence, collisional activation of such ions at high kinetic energy should be particularly useful for structure elucidations.