What is the McLafferty rearrangement in mass spectrometry?

1 Answer
Truong-Son N.
Jan 7, 2018

I've gone through an example here:
https://socratic.org/questions/what-is-the-mass-spectrum?source=search

The McLafferty rearrangement is the first fragmentation mechanism shown here:

It is a radical-electron rearrangement that occurs when you have a #gamma# hydrogen on a ketone or aldehyde. The #gamma# hydrogen is on the #"C"_gamma#, three away from the carbonyl carbon. All the arrows are one-electron arrows.

In this rearrangement, the #"C"_alpha-"C"_beta# bond is cleaved homolytically (symmetrically), and the oxygen on the carbonyl acquires an #"H"# atom.

The remaining fragmentations are gone into more detail in the linked answer above.

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