Within the mass spectrometric study of bisubstituted isoquinolines that possess great potential as prolylhydroxylase inhibitor drug candidates (e.g., FG-2216), unusually favored gas-phase formations of carboxylic acids after collisional activation were observed. The protonated molecule of [(1-chloro-4-hydroxy-isoquinoline-3-carbonyl)-amino]-acetic acid was dissociated, yielding the 1-chloro-4-hydroxy-isoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid methyleneamide cation. Subsequent dissociation caused the nominal elimination of 11 u that resulted from the loss of HCN and concomitant addition of oxygen to the product ion, which formed the protonated 1-chloro-4-hydroxy-isoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid. The preference of this structure under mass spectrometric conditions was substantiated by tandem mass spectrometry analyses using the corresponding methyl ester (1-chloro-4-hydroxy-isoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid methyl ester) that eliminated methylene (Ϫ14 u) upon collisional activation. Moreover, the major product ion of 1-chloro-4-hydroxy-isoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid, which resulted from the loss of water in MS 3 experiments, restored the precursor ion structure by re-addition of H 2 O. Evidences for these phenomena were obtained by chemical synthesis of proposed gas-phase intermediates, H/D exchange experiments, high-resolution/high accuracy mass spectrometry at MS n level, and "ping-pong" analyses (MS 7 , in which the precursor ion was dissociated and the respective product ion isolated to regenerate the precursor ion for repeated dissociation. Based on these results, dissociation pathways for [(1-chloro-4-hydroxy-isoquinoline-3-carbonyl)-amino]-acetic acid were suggested that can be further utilized for the characterization of structurally related compounds or metabolic products in clinical, forensic, or doping control analysis. (J Am Soc Mass Spectrom 2008, 19, 151-158) © 2008 American Society for Mass Spectrometry P rolyl hydroxylases have been subject of various studies because of their importance in several biochemical pathways and, thus, related diseases in case of impaired activity. Proline hydroxylation was identified as a key factor in the biosynthesis and maturation of collagen [1,2], which requires 4-hydroxylation of specific proline residues (in X-Pro-Gly motifs) to establish the characteristic triple-helical structure. However, during life-threatening fibrotic states, inappropriately large amounts of collagen are produced, and the inhibition of proline hydroxylation is desired to divert the collagen biosynthesis into a degradative pathway [3]. More recently, the catalytic role of prolyl hydroxylase isoforms in modifying conserved prolines of two oxygen-dependent degradation domains in the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1␣ was identified [4 -6]. The members of the 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase superfamily enable the hydroxylation of the proline residues 402 and 564 of HIF-1␣ and promote its degradation via ubiquitylation and subsequent proteasomal destruction [7][8][9]. As a consequence, the presence of HIF-1...