The ion PhCO 2 ᎐ ؊ CHPh, upon collision activation, undergoes competitive losses of CO and CO 2 of which the former process produces the base peak of the spectrum. Product ion and substituent effect (Hammett) studies indicate that PhCO 2 ᎐ ؊ CHPh cyclises to a deprotonated hydroxydiphenyloxirane which ring opens to PhCOCH(O ؊ )Ph. This anion then undergoes an anionic 1,2-Wittig type rearrangement {through [PhCO ؊ (PhCHO)]} to form Ph 2 CHO ؊ and CO. The mechanism of the 1,2-rearrangement has been probed by an ab initio study [at MP4(SDTQ)/6-31؉؉G(d,p) level] of the model system HCOCH 2 O ؊ → MeO ؊ ؉ CO. The analogous system RCO 2 ᎐ ؊ CHPh (R ؍ alkyl) similarly loses CO, and the migratory aptitudes of the alkyl R groups in this reaction are Bu t > Me > Et ~Pr i ). This trend correlates with the order of anion basicities (i.e. the order of G o acid values of RH), supporting the operation of an anion migration process. The loss of CO 2 from PhCO 2 ᎐ ؊ CHPh yields Ph 2 CH ؊ as the anionic product: several mechanistic scenarios are possible, one of which involves an initial ipso nucleophilic substitution.