The comparative investigation into the mass spectrometric analysis of nine furanoid diterpene glucosides and their aglycones were made by the electron impact (EI), fast atom bombardment (FAB), and field desorption (FD) mass spectrometry (MS).
The EI mass spectra provided the diagnostic informations concerning stereoisomerism of the aglycone parts. The FAB mass spectra could reveal the molecular ion peaks of the glucosides by both the positive and the negative ion modes, and the abundant knowledge on the structural features of those compounds could be obtained by the FDMS. Particularly, the ions at m/z 163 which indicated the sugar moieties were easily detected, even if their glucosidic bonds resisted to chemical and enzymatic hydrolysis.
As a promising aid for obtaining structural information of minute amounts of furanoid diterpene glucosides and their aglycones, the utility of the combined use of the EI and the FDMS was emphasized.
