Use of mass spectroscopic techniques to elucidate the nature of the products of the oxidation of trimethylstibine in air

In view of the biological production of trimethyl-stibine ((CH3)(3)Sb) in t he natural environment, the fate of this species when exposed to ambient ox ygen has been studied. The results obtained show that the oxidation process leads to a complex series of products, Trimethylstibine oxide ((CH3)(3)SbO ) and a range of cyclic and linear oligomers have been detected using posit ive ion electrospray and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization technique s and the mass spectroscopic (MS) features are discussed. Dimethyl antimony ((CH3)(2)Sb) species were not detected under the conditions used. The resu lts from both MS techniques were similar, Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley a S ons, Ltd.