Reactions of ionic species from acetonitrile with long-chain saturated and unsaturated alcohols

Ten long-chain saturated and unsaturated alcohols were reacted with the ionic species [C2H2N](+) and [C3H4N](+) generated by ionization of acetonitrile into an ion trap. The mass spectra of the compounds under investigation show the formation of [M - H](+), [M + C2H2N](+) and [M + C2H4N](+) ions in the case of saturated alcohols, whereas for monounsaturated and polyunsaturated derivatives additional peaks corresponding to [M + H](+) and [M + H - H2O](+) are observed, The reaction mechanisms were investigated by means of D- and C-13-labelled acetonitrile, Collisional experiments were performed on the [M + C3H4N](+) species from the polyunsaturated alcohols in order to identify any possibly diagnostic fragments for the identification of the double bond positions.