This review is intended to provide an outline of the basic principles
of operation and current developments of mass spectrometric techniques
applicable to the field of organic chemistry. New ionization techniqu
es, particularly useful for the analysis of polar and high molecular w
eight materials, introduced during the past few years are reported tog
ether with more traditional methods of ion formation. Various mass ana
lyzers, suitable for single or multiple mass identification processes
are described. Applications of mass spectrometry to certain Glasses of
organic compounds, such as steroids, alkaloids, carbohydrates and por
phyrins are illustrated with examples. All spectral data reported here
have been obtained in the authors' laboratory.