A detailed analysis of the mass spectral behavior of trialkylboranes and deuterium and I3C labeled tri-n-butylborane, and comparison with the ion cyclotron resonance behavior, have revealed several unique features and heretofore unrecognized rearrangement and fragmentation reactions :(1) the occurrence ofinitial fragmentation of the parent ion with apparently nearly exclusive loss of one complete alkyl radical; (2) the extensive formation of boron-containing species (>60% of the total ion current) in the mass spectrometer relative to the virtual absence (<5%) of such species in the ion cyclotron resonance spectrum; (3) the dominant formation of boron-containing species of the
RESULTS
Mass spectrum of tri-n-butylboraneThe high resolution mass spectrum of tri-n-butylborane (I) is dominated by boron-containing species (>60% of the total ion current at 70 eV). The parent ion is quite weak, representing -0.4 % of the boron-containing fragment ion current.