Electron impact induced cyclization ofortho‐substituted diphenylmethanes

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Abstract
Mass spectra of 2‐hydroxydiphenylmethane and its derivatives are characterized in the upper mass region by an abundant ionm/z165. Metastable ion measurements reveal that this ion is formed from the molecular ion of the parent compound by elimination of H2O and hydrogen. A fluorenyl cation structure is proposed for this ion on the basis of identity of collision induced mass analyzed ion kinetic energy spectra of ionm/z165 generated from 2‐hydroxydiphenylmethane and from fluorene. Four different pathways of formation of a fluorenyl cation are discussed. The contribution of each of these to the genesis of fragmentm/z165 was monitored in a reversed geometry instrument by measuring the first fragmentation in the first field free region and the second fragmentation in the second field free region.