Mass spectrometry of cyclopentadienylideneketene: differentiation of isomeric ion structures by means of ion/molecule reactions

The nature of the m/z 104 ions formed by loss of CO2 or Ph-O-NCO from the molecular ions of phthalic anhydride, N-phenoxyphthalimide, and N-phenoxyisophthalimide was investigated by means of ion/molecule reactions with acetone. This allows a clear-cut differentiation of the so-obtained ions from the isomeric molecular ions of cyclopentadienylideneketene. The different intrinsic chemical reactivities of ionized cyclopentadienylideneketene and its distonoid isomer towards neutral acetone were investigated on a large-scale hybrid mass spectrometer and confirmed by density functional theory calculations