MALDI mass spectrometry of fullerene derivatives

The behavior of single- and multiple-caged fullerene derivatives in MALDI mass spectra is reviewed. Special attention is paid to the physicochemical aspects of formation and dissociation of the ions. Fragmentation occurs mostly via monomolecular detachment of the addends, which requires an interior energy surplus of 7–17 eV. Being time-delayed, the decay leads to the appearance of metastable peaks in the reflector time-of-flight mass spectra. This phenomenon permits application of MALDI mass spectrometry for identification of free radicals in samples of fullerene derivatives. Fragment ions formed by the post source decay give important information about the chemical structure of the studied derivatives. Evidently, accumulation of the required excess interior energy by the ions at laser ablation occurs in the chunks – microparticles of the condensed material.

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► Fragmentation of ions occurs mostly via monomolecular detachment of the addends.
► This decay requires an interior energy surplus of 7–17 eV.
► Being time-delayed it leads to the appearance of metastable peaks in mass spectra.
► This fact permits to apply MALDI mass spectrometry for identification of radicals.
► The energy surplus pointed to the formation of ions by MALDI in a condensed medium.