Gas-phase ion-molecule reactions of the CH3O+ cation

The methoxy cation, CH30+, formed by collision-induced charge reversal of methoxr anions with a kinetic energy of 8 keY, has been differentiated from the isomenric CH2OH+ ion by performing low kinetic energy ion-molecule reactions In the radiofrequency-only quadrupole of a reverse-geometry double-focusing quadrupole hybrid mass spectrometer. The methoxy cation reacts with CH3SH, CH3−CH=CH2, (CH3)2O, and CH3CH2Cl by electron transfer, whereas the CH2OH+ ion reacts by proton transfer with these substrates