Electron ionization and fast atom bombardment mass spectral study for differentiation of ligand of zinc(II) (-)-sparteine and (-)-a-isosparteine complexesThe (-)-sparteine bis-quinolizidine alkaloid produced by lupine species has generated much interest due to its pharmacological properties, 1-3 and its application in asymmetric synthesis. 4,5 The basic bis-quinolizidine system of (-)-sparteine consists of four rings, two of which (A/B) form a double-chair system of trans-quinolizidine, which is relatively resistant (for thermodynamic reasons) to conformationalconfigurational changes. The second system of rings (C/D) is much more susceptible to inversion at the N16 nitrogen atom and it can occur in either the trans boat-chair or the cis double-chair conformation. According to Haasnoot, 6 sparteine adopts exclu-