Characterization of isopoly metal oxyanions using electrospray time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Electrospray time-of-flight mass spectrometry was used to study dilute (10( -3) nl) solutions of tungstate, vanadate and perrhenate oxyanions under aci dic and basic conditions. The electrospray mass spectra of tungstate and va nadate solutions indicate the presence of protonated monomeric oxyanions in basic solution (pH approximate to 10) and protonated polymeric species in acidic solutions (pH approximate to 4). Monomeric perrhenate was the only s pecies detected in both acidic and basic perrhenate solutions, For all thre e systems, the core metalate species detected by electrospray were consiste nt with reported speciation in aqueous solutions. Copyright (C) 2000 John W iley & Sons, Ltd.