STUDY OF THE FRAGMENTATION OF 3(2H)-FURANONES BY MASS-SPECTROMETRY

Fragmentation of 4-hydroxy-5-methyl-3(2H)-furanone, 4-hydroxy-2,5-dime thyl-3(2H)-furanone, and 2(or 5)-ethyl-4-hydroxy-5(or 2)-methyl-3(2H)- furanone was studied by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and by ga s chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. Experiments were carried ou t using unlabeled reference compounds and isotopically labeled molecul es. The latter were obtained either by synthesis or through the Mailla rd reaction based on xylose and alanine or glycine. A general fragment ation pathway of alkylated 4-hydroxy-3(2H)-furanones is proposed on th e basis of cross-examination of the mass spectrometric data obtained f rom these different compounds.