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In this study, the gas-phase fragmentations of protonated benzyl phenyl sulfones were investigated by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS n ).Upon collisional activation, several characteristic fragment ions were observed, and the similar results occurred with different substituted benzyl phenyl sulfones. A mechanism involving an intramolecular benzyl cation transfer and the formation of intermediate ion was proposed and further identified by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. In addition, a reference compound, benzenesulfinic acid benzyl ester, has been synthesized, and its protonated ion has the same gas-phase behavior as compared to the protonated benzyl phenyl sulfone. This work provides access to some insight into the intramolecular benzyl-transfer reactions of benzyl phenyl sulfones in the gas phase and orients the characteristic peaks in collision-induced dissociation spectrometry (CID-MS).

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