ChemInform Abstract: Unimolecular Decompositions of the Radical Cations of Ethylene Glycol and Its Monomethyl Ether in the Gas Phase. Distonic Ions versus Ion- Neutral Complexes

The ions corresponding to metastable formyl loss from ionized ethylene glycol and 2-methoxyethanol are the conjugate acids of methanol and dimethyl ether, respectively. The structures of the fragments of deuterated analogues reveal that a hydroxylic hydrogen transfers to carbon to create the new methyl group, while a hydrogen originally attached to carbon migrates to oxygen in the course of this double hydrogen transfer. This is the only metastable decomposition of ethylene glycol radical cation, while 2-methoxyethanol radical cation also loses water to form oxetane radical cation