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Related Concept Videos

Mass Spectrometry: Molecular Fragmentation Overview01:20

Mass Spectrometry: Molecular Fragmentation Overview

The ionization of a molecule into a molecular ion inside the mass spectrometer causes instability in the molecule's structure due to the loss of an electron. This eventually leads to the fragmentation or breaking of some bonds in the molecule. The fragmentation occurs predominantly at specific bonds to yield relatively stable fragments.
One type of fragmentation pattern is the cleavage of a single bond in the molecular ion. The cleavage leads to a radical and a cation. The cleavage can occur at...
Mass Spectrometry: Long-Chain Alkane Fragmentation01:18

Mass Spectrometry: Long-Chain Alkane Fragmentation

The molecular ions of linear alkanes prefer to fragment at the carbon-carbon bond away from the end of the chain since the cleavage of an inner bond creates a stable carbocation and a stable radical. Consequently, the mass signals of linear alkanes feature intense peaks in the middle of the mass-to-charge ratio plot with weaker peaks on either end. The fragmentation of each carbon-carbon bond with the release of a methyl group in each splitting leads to prominent peaks in the mass spectra...
Chemical Ionization (CI) Mass Spectrometry01:21

Chemical Ionization (CI) Mass Spectrometry

The molecular ion peak of a molecule in the mass spectrum provides vital information for molecular identification. However, conventional electron impact ionization can lead to the rapid dissociation of some molecular ions before they reach the detector. A milder ionization method is required to increase the lifetime of such ionized analyte molecules. Chemical ionization (CI) is a gas-phase protonation reaction useful for mass-analyzing analyte molecules that are easily protonated to yield the...
Electrospray Ionization (ESI) Mass Spectrometry01:12

Electrospray Ionization (ESI) Mass Spectrometry

Higher molecular weight biomolecules are nonvolatile compounds that may decompose before ionizing or vaporizing during mass analysis with conventional electron impact ionization methods. Accordingly, electrospray ionization (ESI) is the favored method for vaporizing and ionizing biomolecules as it circumvents rapid fragmentation and enables the recording of mass signals for the entire biomolecule.
ESI utilizes electrical energy to transfer ions from the liquid phase of the sample into the...
Mass Spectrometry: Alcohol Fragmentation01:03

Mass Spectrometry: Alcohol Fragmentation

Alcohols (R-OH) ionize to lose one non-bonded electron from the oxygen atom, forming molecular ions. Due to their tendency to fragment rapidly, the intensity of the molecular ion peak in the mass spectrum is weak or sometimes absent. The fragmentation patterns for alcohols occur in two ways, i.e. ⍺-cleavage and dehydration. During ⍺-cleavage, the bond at the ⍺-position adjacent to the hydroxyl group cleaves to give a resonance-stabilized cation and a radical. However, intramolecular dehydration...
Mass Spectrum: Interpretation01:24

Mass Spectrum: Interpretation

An unknown compound can be established by identifying the molecular ion peak in the mass spectrum. The molecular ion peak is often weak or absent due to the predominance of fragmentation in high-energy electron beams. In such cases, a soft-energy electron beam can be used to scan the spectrum to enhance the intensity of the molecular ion peak. Additionally, chemical ionization, field ionization, and desorption ionization spectra are used to obtain a relatively intense molecular ion peak.To...

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Molecular Beam Mass Spectrometry With Tunable Vacuum Ultraviolet (VUV) Synchrotron Radiation
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Published on: October 30, 2012

Enhanced Strong-Field Ionization and Fragmentation of Methanol Using Noncommensurate Fields.

Eladio Prieto1, Rituparna Das1, Naga Krishnakanth Katturi1

  • 1Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States.

The Journal of Physical Chemistry. A
|October 3, 2024
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Femtosecond laser pulses probe electron-initiated chemistry. Using noncommensurate fields, researchers significantly enhanced product ion yields in methanol, improving ionization and electron rescattering.

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Last Updated: Jun 22, 2026

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09:53

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Published on: October 30, 2012

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Measurement of Ultrafast Vibrational Coherences in Polyatomic Radical Cations with Strong-Field Adiabatic Ionization
08:22

Measurement of Ultrafast Vibrational Coherences in Polyatomic Radical Cations with Strong-Field Adiabatic Ionization

Published on: August 6, 2018

Area of Science:

  • Physical Chemistry
  • Femtochemistry
  • Laser-Induced Chemistry

Background:

  • Electron-initiated chemistry is crucial for understanding high-energy processes.
  • Probing molecular dissociation and fragmentation requires high temporal resolution (femtoseconds).
  • Femtosecond lasers induce ionization via electron rescattering for studying these reactions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate electron-initiated chemistry in polyatomic molecules using femtosecond resolution.
  • To explore the use of noncommensurate fields to enhance ionization and electron rescattering.
  • To study methanol as a model system for these advanced spectroscopic techniques.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized femtosecond lasers to induce ionization of methanol molecules.
  • Employed noncommensurate laser fields with varying coherence properties.
  • Analyzed product ions using intensity-difference spectra.

Main Results:

  • Observed orders of magnitude enhancement in several methanol product ions.
  • Demonstrated significant differences in product yields between coherent and incoherent field combinations.
  • Showed mitigation of multiphoton ionization and multicycle effects.

Conclusions:

  • Combining noncommensurate fields offers a powerful method to study electron-initiated chemistry.
  • This approach enhances tunnel ionization and electron rescattering, leading to improved product ion detection.
  • The findings provide new insights into controlling and probing ultrafast molecular dynamics.