Strained heterocyclic systems. VIII. The mass spectral fragmentations of some arylquinolines and quinolineN-oxides

High resolution mass spectra of compounds 1—8 were investigated. For the quinolines (1–3) the absence of major peaks other than M+ and (M-1)+ reflects the stability of those systems. The N-oxides (4–6) all exhibit major peaks at M+, (M-16)+, and (M-17)+. In addition, 4 shows prominent fragmentations reflecting loss of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The pathways are related to the geometries of the N-oxides; deuterated compounds (7–8) aided these assignments.