Divalent metal complexes of phosphocholines, [Metal II (L)n] 2ϩ (where Metal ϭ Cu 2ϩ , Co 2ϩ , Mg 2ϩ , and Ca 2ϩ , L ϭ 1,2-dihexanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine [6:0/6:0GPCho] and 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine [16:0/18:1GPCho] and n ϭ 2-5), were formed upon electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI/MS) of 8 mM solution of phosphocholine (L) with 4 mM metal salt (Metal). The electron capture dissociation (ECD) reactions of these [Metal II (L) n ] 2ϩ complexes were examined via Fourier-transform ioncyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. A rich and complex chemistry was observed, including charge reduction and fragmentation involving losses of a methyl radical, trimethylamine, and the acyl chains. The predominant reaction channel was dependent on the size (n) of the complex, the metal and ligand used, and the size of the acyl chain. Thus charge reduction dominates the ECD spectra of the larger phosphocholine, 16:0/18:1GPCho, but is largely absent in the smaller 6:0/6:0GPCho. For complexes of 16:0/18:1GPCho, n ϭ 4 -5, fragmentation from the head group mainly occurs via loss of the methyl radical and trimethylamine. At n ϭ 3, the relative abundance of fragments due to loss of acyl chain radicals increases. The abundances of ions arising from these radical losses increase further for the n ϭ 2 complexes, thereby providing information on the composition and position of the 16:0 and 18:1 acyl groups. Thus ECD of metal complexes provides structurally useful information on the phosphocholine, including the nature of the head group, the acyl chains, and the positions of the acyl chains. complexes of L ϭ 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, which allows distinction of acyl chains [9]. We were thus intrigued by the possibility of using electron capture dissociation (ECD) on divalent metal complexes of phospholipids to gain additional structural information, since recent studies suggest that divalent metal ions not only can direct the fragmentation of peptides under conditions of ECD [10 -13], but also act as charge tags to allow the use of ECD on other biomolecules that may not undergo multiple protonation under electrospray ionization (ESI) conditions [13].