Professional Documents
Culture Documents
This page explains how the M+2 peak in a mass spectrum arises
compound. It also deals briefly with the origin of the M+4 peak in
Note: Before you start this page, it would be a good idea to have a
reasonable understanding about how a mass spectrum is produced
and the sort of information you can get from it. If you haven't already
done so, explore the mass spectrometry menu before you go on.
Note: All the mass spectra on this page have been drawn using data
from the Spectral Data Base System for Organic Compounds (SDBS)
at the National Institute of Materials and Chemical Research in Japan.
With one exception, they have been simplified by omitting all the minor
lines with peak heights of 2% or less of the base peak (the tallest
peak).
The molecular ion peaks (M+ and M+2) each contain one chlorine
The molecular ion containing the 35Cl isotope has a relative formula
mass of 78. The one containing 37Cl has a relative formula mass of
Notice that the peak heights are in the ratio of 3 : 1. That reflects
the fact that chlorine contains 3 times as much of the 35Cl isotope
as the 37Cl one. That means that there will be 3 times more
So . . . if you look at the molecular ion region, and find two peaks
heights, that tells you that the molecule contains 1 chlorine atom.
You might also have noticed the same pattern at m/z = 63 and m/z
Note: If you aren't sure about fragmentation you might like to have a
look at this link.
Note: This spectrum has been simplified by omitting all the minor lines
with peak heights of less than 1% of the base peak (the tallest peak).
This contains more minor lines than other mass spectra in this section.
It was necessary because otherwise an important line in the molecular
ion region would have been missing.
The lines in the molecular ion region (at m/z values of 98,
28 + 35 + 35 = 98
28 + 35 + 37 = 100
28 + 37 + 37 = 102
If you have the necessary maths, you could show that the
9:6:1 - and this is the ratio of the peak heights. If you don't
M+2 and M+4) with gaps of 2 m/z units between them, and
29 + 79 = 108
29 + 81 = 110
molecule.