Field-Ionization Mass Spectra-Structure Correlation for Paraffins

Abstract

Field ionization is a relatively new kind of mass spectrometry, which is in an early stage of development.* It holds the promise of making contributions to the spectroscopy of fuels and related materials. In the first place, this is so because the simplified spectra are “more favorable” for mixture analysis, i.e., contain more abundant parent molecular ions and many fewer fragmentation products. In the second place, it is because the primary metastable ions in field-ionization spectra yield a much better correlation with molecular structure and make possible distinctions among isomers. This second spectral characteristic is the subject of this chapter.