Isomeric effects on fragmentations of crotonaldehyde and methacrolein in low-energy electron–molecule collisions

Fragmentation behavior upon low energy (10–16 eV) electron molecule collision of two isomeric α,β-enones, crotonaldehyde and methacrolein, has been studied by quadrupole mass spectrometry. Three predominant reaction channels identified immediately above the ionization threshold are H, CO and HCO losses from the parent molecular ions, and isomeric effects are vividly manifested with respect to these channels. Signals corresponding to CH3CO+ ion, produced due to methyl migration, are displayed only by methacrolein. The observed isomeric effects are interpreted using the energies of the transition states and thermodynamic stabilities of the products predicted by calculation at DFT/B3LYP/6311++G(d,p) level.