Abstract
The fragmentation of twenty kinds of trimethylsilyl derivatives of amines upon electron impact is studied for the possibility of ultramicrodetermination and selective identification of amines by mass fragmentography. In addition, the selective identification of trimethylsilyl derivatives of amino acids and amines in their mass spectra is also examined. The results obtained in this study indicated that the selective identification and ultramicrodetermination of amines by mass fragmentography will be possible by monitoring the intense ion such as m/e 174. The m/e 147 ion is observed for the amines which have O-trimethylsilyl group. Both ions at m/e 147 and 59 are useful for the selective identification of amino acids and amines in their mass spectra. It is not always true that the ion at m/e 147 indicates the presence of O-trimethylsilyl group, considering from the results that this ion is observed for N-trimethylsilyl n-butyl esters and N-trimethylsilyl l-menthyl esters of amino acids.
