The title compounds, which exist in solutions as mixtures of exo/endo double bond isomers due to the "push-pull" effect of the electron-donating and electron-withdrawing substituents, were studied by mass-spectrometric methods. Their fragmentation routes under electron impact were established and confirmed by metastable ion analysis and accurate mass measurements. The results demonstrated that the relative amounts of exo/endo isomeric molecular ions are in close agreement with the isomeric ratios observed in solutions by the NMR, although the mass spectra of the tetracyano derivatives indicated a small fraction of molecular ions existing in the endo form, which could not be detected in solution by the NMR methods. . These products were found to exist as mixtures of exo/endo double-bond isomers [2,3]. Their isomerism and conformational equilibria were studied experimentally by 1 H and 13 C NMR spectroscopy [2] and also investigated by ab initio calculations [3]. The exo/endo isomerism of Compounds 1-17 was found to be a function of the cycloalkyl ring size, of the nature of substituents, and of the degree of the "push-pull" effect ( -polarization of the double bond). Thus, only the exo isomers could be detected in the case of the tetracyano compounds (R¢R'¢CN, Scheme 1) regardless of the cycloalkyl ring size, whereas the ester derivatives exist in solutions as mixtures of exo/endo isomers, the endo structures being strongly preferred in the compounds containing seven-and eight-membered rings. The substitition pattern also plays an important role, so that the ester derivatives (R'¢COOMe or COOEt) exist as pure endo isomers [2]. The phenomenon of sterically restricted rotation about the C™C bond attaching the 1-(methylthio)vinyl substituent was also revealed by the NMR study [2]. The relative stabilities of the exo/ endo isomers as determined from ab initio calculations [3] were in agreement with the experimental data (the calculated stabilities of the endo isomers increased with the cycloalkyl ring size, beginning from six-membered derivatives). The theoretical analysis has further clarified the conformational preferences (regarding s-cis/strans conformers) and demonstrated the presence of the so-called "allylic strain" between the vicinal substituents in the six-membered exo isomers. In general, Compounds 1-17 are characterized in solutions by various structural features including the valence (exo/endo) and geometrical (E/Z) isomerism and conformational equilibria.From the viewpoint of organic mass spectrometry, "push-pull" olefins comprising both electron-donating and electron-accepting functional groups can serve as model compounds for studying the effects of valence isomerization (such as double-bond shifts and hydrogen atom migrations) on the mass-spectrometric fragmentation patterns.A literature survey shows that some peculiar fragmentation patterns have previously been observed in polycyano olefins which bear resemblance to Compounds 1-17. Note that the simultaneous presence of electron-donating and electro...