Reactions of ionic species from acetonitrile with long-chain saturated and unsaturated alcohols

Ten long-chain saturated and unsaturated alcohols were reacted with the ionic species [C(2) H(2) N](+) and [C(3) H(4) N](+) generated by ionization of acetonitrile into an ion trap. The mass spectra of the compounds under investigation show the formation of [M -H](+), [M + C(2) H(2) N](+) and [M + C(2) H(4) N](+) ions in the case of saturated alcohols, whereas for monounsaturated and polyunsaturated derivatives additional peaks corresponding to [M + H](+) and [M + H -H(2) O](+) are observed. The reaction mechanisms were investigated by means of D- and (13)C-labelled acetonitrile. Collisional experiments were performed on the [M + C(3) H(4) N](+) species from the polyunsaturated alcohols in order to identify any possibly diagnostic fragments for the identification of the double bond positions. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.