Rearrangements leading to fragmentations of hydrocinnamate and analogous nitrogen-containing anions upon...

Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) confirmed decarboxylation as the major collision-induced dissociation (CID) pathway of deprotonated hydrocinnamic acid (C6H5CH2CH2CO2H), N-phenylglycine (C6H5NHCH2CO2H) and 3-pyridin-2-ylpropanoic acid (C5H4NCH2CH2CO2H). The structure and stability of isomeric precursor and product anions were examined using density functional theory and ab initio methods. Geometry optimizations and frequency calculations were performed using the B3LYP/6-31++G(2d,p) level of theory and basis set with additional single point energies calculated at the MP2/6-311++G(2d,p) level. The formation of a delocalized product anion by carboxyl group-mediated migration of a benzylic proton to the ortho position of the ring and subsequent Cα-CO2(-) bond cleavage was energetically more favorable than direct decarboxylation and rearrangements of anions within ion-neutral complexes with carbon dioxide. The energy barrier for rearrangement of the delocalized product anion to the more stable benzylic anion was lowest in the fragmentation pathway of 3-pyridin-2-ylpropanoate. More energetically demanding fragmentation processes were indicated by the formation of other product anions at higher collision energy. Computations supported the feasibility of the formation of hydroxycarbonyl, styrene, and phenide ions from the benzylic anion of hydrocinnamate and the corresponding product anions from the nitrogen-containing analogues. The loss of dihydrogen from decarboxylated 3-pyridin-2-ylpropanoate was characterized computationally as hydride abstraction of an aryl proton. Overall, the results highlight the importance of exploring rearrangements in the fragmentation pathways of ions formed by electrospray ionization (ESI).