High Resolution Mass Spectrometry In assigning mass values to atoms and molecules, we have assumed integral values for isotopic masses. However, accurate measurements show that this is not strictly true. Because the strong nuclear forces that bind the components of an atomic nucleus together vary, the actual mass of a given isotope deviates from its nominal integer by a small but characteristic amount (remember E = mc 2 ). Thus, relative to 12 C at 12.0000, the isotopic mass of 16 O is 15.9949 Da (not 16) and 14 N is 14.0031 Da (not 14). 0 1 2 3 Formula C6H12 C5H8O C4H8N2 Mass 84.0939 84.0575 84.0688 By designing mass spectrometers that can determine m/z values accurately to four decimal places, it is possible to distinguish different formulas having the same nominal mass. The table on the right illustrates this important feature, and a double-focusing high-resolution mass spectrometer easily distinguishes ions having these compositions. Mass spectrometry therefore not only provides a specific molecular mass value, but it may also establish the molecular formula of an unknown compound. Tables of precise mass values for any molecule or ion are available in libraries; however, the mass calculator provided below serves the same purpose. Since a given nominal mass may correspond to several molecular formulas, lists of such possibilities are especially useful when evaluating the spectrum of an unknown compound. Composition tables are available for this purpose, and a particularly useful program for calculating all possible combinations of H, C, N & O that give a specific nominal mass has been written by Jef Rozenski. To use this calculator Click Here. University of ArizonaIowa State University University of Leeds Contributors William Reusch, Professor Emeritus ( Michigan State U. ), Virtual Textbook of Organic Chemistry