Mass spectrometric study of 2-azafluorenes

The fragmentation of 2-azafluorene and its methyl and phenyl-substituted derivatives was studied. It is shown that ejection of an RCN fragment (R=CH<inf>3</inf>, C<inf>6</inf>H<inf>5</inf>) by the molecular ions leads to a more intense peak if R is in the 3 position of the azafluorene ring. It was established that, in contrast to the dissociative ionization of fluorene, all of the ions of which are formed from the (M-H)+ fragment, the fragmentation of 2-azafluorene and its derivative also takes place from the molecular ion. Randomization of the deuterium atoms attached to C<inf>9</inf> with the remaining hydrogen atoms was observed. © 1977 Plenum Publishing Corporation.