Abstract
Twelve sulfonium salts were studied by electrospray Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. Collisionally activated dissociation, CAD, reactions, using neutral argon as the collision gas, were performed to investigate dissociation pathways in the gas phase and to study the stabilizing/destabilizing effects of electron donating/withdrawing substituents on the sulfonium ions. Ion-molecule reactions were attempted to identify S
N2 reaction mechanisms, but to date we have detected exclusively S
N1-type reactions in the gas phase. Literature reports on the mass spectrometry of sulfonium cations are reviewed.