What do we know about reaction mechanism? The electrospray Ionization mass spectrometry approach

Man's fascination with chemical reactions goes back to ancient times. With the introduction of spectroscopic techniques, the art of exploiting reactions became an intriguing science. It is, therefore, not surprising that one of the most flourishing and rewarding frontiers in modern Chemistry is the study of reaction mechanisms in chemical and biological processes. As man's imagination does not stop at the frontiers defined by nature, and with the ever increasing power of catalysis, the synthetic organic chemist is poised to make important contributions by inventing and developing new enabling technologies for the generation of new catalysts and methodologies. In this account is offered a new tool for accelerating the development through electrospray ionizationmass spectrometric (ESI-MS) monitoring in new reaction discovering