Alpha cleavage

Alpha-cleavage (α-cleavage) in organic chemistry refers to the act of breaking the carbon-carbon bond adjacent to the carbon bearing a specified functional group. Alpha-cleavage (α-cleavage) in organic chemistry refers to the act of breaking the carbon-carbon bond adjacent to the carbon bearing a specified functional group. Generally this topic is discussed when covering tandem mass spectrometry fragmentation and occurs generally by the same mechanisms. For example, of a mechanism of alpha-cleavage, an electron is knocked off an atom (usually by electron collision) to form a radical cation. Electron removal generally happens in the following order: 1) lone pair electrons, 2) pi bond electrons, 3) sigma bond electrons.