Field-desorption mass spectra of fern phloroglucinols containing three to six ring constituents

It has been previously shown that the structural analysis of the title compounds by electron-impact ionization (EI)mass spectrometry is complicated by extensive, if not complete, thermal rottlerone-type rearrangement and/or fragmentation reactions. The use of a ‘softer’ ionization technique such as field desorption (FD) is, therefore, required in order that these compounds may be characterized in terms of their molecular size and composition. In this report, the FD mass spectra of typical representatives of this class of compounds are described along with the attempted suppression of undesirable thermal reactions by the optimization of the emitter temperatures.