Pyrolysis mass spectrometric studies on nucleic acids

Two different mass spectrometric techniques have been used to analyse the products resulting from Curie-point pyrolysis of nucleic acids: low voltage ionization quadrupole mass spectrometry and high resolution field ionization mass spectrometry. The spectra obtained with both techniques are in good agreement with one another. As already indicated by the low resolution spectra, the high resolution spectra proved that most of the peaks originate from the carbohydrate moiety of the nucleic acid. Micrograms of DNA/RNA can be distinguished very easily by use of these key fragments, although the bases themselves are not found. Some significant pyrolysis mechanisms are proposed.