Effect of collision gas pressure and collision energy on reactions between ammonia and protonated trichothecenes in the collision cell of a triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer

Low-energy reactive collisions between the protonated molecule of a trichothecene and ammonia inside the collision cell of a triple-stage quadrupole mass spectrometer produce an adduct ion, solvated ions and ions formed by substitution reactions and collisionally activated dissociation (CAD). The collision conditions have an important effect on the relative abundances. Energy- and pressure-resolved curves show that the formation of the adduct ion, substitution ions and solvated ions is favoured by high pressure of ammonia (5–9 mTorr) and low collision energy (0.1–10 eV), while the formation of CAD ions is favoured by high pressure and high energy.