Dimethyl ether and dimethyl‐d6 ether chemical ionization mass spectrometry of nitramines, nitroaromatics and related compounds

Dimethyl ether (DME) chemical ionization mass spectrometry with introduction by direct exposure desorption was utilized for the characterization of a variety of nitramines, nitroaromatics and related compounds. For the nitramines and for many of the nitroaromatics the most abundant ions were fragment‐molecule adduct ions resulting from ion‐molecule reactions with the reagent gas. Nitroaromatic positional isomers were readily distinguished by large differences in the abundances of the various adduct ions. For the nitramines, collision‐induced dissociations of the prominent methoxymethylene adduct ions were studied and contrasted with those of the corresponding adducts derived from DME‐d6 as reagent gas.