Electron impact ionization of R-carvone: I. Mass spectra and appearance energies

Abstract The mass spectrum of R-carvone measured at 70 eV electron impact energy, in the mass region of 1–151 amu, is reported in this work. We observed in this spectrum 103 peaks associated with ionic fragmentation, 55 of them with abundances greater than 1%. The relative abundances, from this study, compare reasonably well with the corresponding values reported in the literature where such a comparison can be made. The R-carvone Ionization Energy (IE), as well as the ionic energy formation thresholds (Appearance Energy - AE) were experimentally determined for the 35 most intense cations registered in the mass spectrum, which provided values for 38 AEs and Wannier exponents (p) and the IE of this molecule. The values of the AEs and Wannier exponents produced in this work, to the best of our knowledge, are being presented for the first time to the scientific community, except for the masses of 135 amu and 150 amu. We also suggest some ionic fragmentation mechanisms and molecular structural ionic fragmentation mechanisms for R-carvone, based on the AE and p values found in this work.