Possible errors and ambiguities in the assignment of metastable peaks in mass spectrometry

Abstract

A single (two-dimensional) scan may not provide sufficient information to define unambiguously the metastable ion reactions occurring in a double-focusing mass spectrometer, but this ambiguity may be resolved by three-dimensional analysis of the ion-current data. An analysis of data for diphenyl-methane demonstrates that single scans may lead to incorrect assignments of the ions involved in certain reactions, and of the location of the reactions in the flight tube.