Abundant Intramolecular Ring Rearrangements of 1-(N-Benzyloxycarbonylamino)arylmethylphosphonate Phenyl monoesters Under Electrospray Ionization Conditions

Abstract

The mass spectrometric behavior of 1-(N-benzyloxycarbonylamino)arylmethylphosphonate phenyl monoesters was investigated under positive ion electrospray ionization conditions. All nitrogen-protonated title compounds undergo four-and/or six-membered ring rearrangements to yield nitrogen-containing fragment ions by consecutive or simultaneous loss of a carbon dioxide and phenyl hydrogen phosphonate or phenyl benzylphosphonate or an arylmethylimine. All oxygen-protonated title compounds undergo four-to six-membered ring rearrangements to produce fragment ions by loss of a carbon dioxide plus an arylmethylimine, or phenyl benzylphosphonate, by consecutive or simultaneous loss of benzyl phenyl ether and isocyanic acid. The fragmentation is obviously different from the corresponding methyl and ethyl monoesters, which show a tendency to undergo intramolecular four-membered ring rearrangements only.