GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHIC MASS-SPECTROMETRIC STUDY OF THE REDUCTIVE SILYLATION OF HYDROXYQUINONES

Reductive trimethylsilylation was carried out with N-methyl-N-trimethy lsilyltrifluoroacetamide under optimized conditions to afford quantita tively the all-silylated products of several hydroxynaphthoquinones an d -anthraquinones. The silylated products were investigated by GC-MS. The fragmentation patterns of the compounds provided valuable informat ion about their structure and consequently about the structure of the initial hydroxyquinones. The silylation and GC-MS separation scheme wa s applied to mixtures of hydroxyquinones, leading to effective separat ion of all the ingredients, which included several hydroxyquinone isom ers.