Abstract
The positions of double bonds in olefins can be readily determined by a sodium borohydride reduction of their methoxymercuration products followed by mass spectrometry. Fragmentation of the methoxy derivative in the mass spectrometer results in cleavage on either side of the methoxy group to give intense fragment ions which are characteristic of each isomer. This simple and convenient microanalytical technique was applied to several synthetic standards and insect derived olefins, including the alkenes from the cuticular lipids of the honeybeeApis mellifera L.
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Blomquist, G.J., Howard, R.W., McDaniel, C.A. et al. Application of methoxymercuration-demercuration followed by mass spectrometry as a convenient microanalytical technique for double-bond location in insect-derived alkenes. J Chem Ecol 6, 257–269 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00987544
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00987544