“Slow” metastable decomposition of oligosaccharide cations produced in an external source fourier transform mass spectrometer

Unimolecular metastable decomposition of cucyclodextrin cations is observed in a fast-atom bombardment Fourier transform mass spectrometry instrument. Cleavage reactions occur at the glycosidic bonds to produce oligomeric fragment ions. The first-order rate constant for the decay of the protonated parent was measured and found to be (4.2 ± 1.0) × 10(2)s(-1).