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Chemistry Forums for Students => Organic Chemistry Forum => Organic Spectroscopy => Topic started by: Big-Daddy on July 18, 2013, 02:25:16 PM

Title: Mass spectrometry
Post by: Big-Daddy on July 18, 2013, 02:25:16 PM

Firstly, Ar values for isotopes aren't neat integers but can only be approximated as such. Whereas mass spectra in my textbook seem to have peaks precisely at integer values of m/z. Is this an approximation taken in the drawing of the mass spectra in my book, or is the standard procedure for mass spectrometry to round the m/z values to the nearest integer?

How do we add relative abundances of isotopically different species which contribute to the same m/z peak (i.e. have the same M_r) on a mass spectrum?

For instance, if we know that from the parent molecule, we can get "isotopomers" A and B, with the same M_r, but where A has an abundance of x:1 relative to the smallest isotopic peak and B has an abundance of y:1 relative to the smallest isotopic peak, how do we find the relative abundance:1 of the peak at this M_r value on the mass spectrum?