Negative-ion fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry in the characterization of deoxyfluorinated sugars

Negative-ion fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry and metastable ion studies were applied to the characterization of three isomeric fluorine-containing sugars. Peculiar fragmentation processes were evidenced for each isomer, enabling their differentiation. Comparison with the behaviour of a non-fluorinated analogue allowed investigation of the role of fluorine in the decomposition processes of these compounds