Time-Dependent Metastable Fragmentations. The 2OH Loss from Methyl Acetate Ions

The metastable ion intensity for the loss of 2OH from ionized methyl acetate has been measured as a function of the ion-source residence time up to 100 μs by means of the ion-trapping technique. The decay of the metastable ion intensity was adequately interpreted by the use of a prior isomerization mechanism on the basis of RRKM calculations. It was suggested that the intermediate precursor for the generation of CH3CO+ and 2OH from ionized methyl acetate is not a hydrogen-bridged complex structure, CH3CO–H–OCH2+·, but a distonic ion structure, CH3+C(OH)O2.