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Halogenated compounds are particularly easy to identify by their mass spectra be

ID: 913307 • Letter: H

Question

Halogenated compounds are particularly easy to identify by their mass spectra because chlorine and bromine occur naturally as mixtures of two abundant isotopes.

Chlorine occurs as 35Cl (75.8%) and 37Cl (24.2%);

Bromine occurs as 79Br (50.7%) and 81Br (49.3%);

Boron compounds also stand out owing to the two isotopes 10B (19.9%) and 11B (80.1%).

For the compound Trimethyl borate, C3H9O3B:

At what masses do the molecular ions occur? (List in order of increasing mass separated by commas, e.g. 120,122.)

What are the percentages of each molecular ion? (List to nearest 1% in order of increasing mass separated by commas, e.g. 55,45.)

Explanation / Answer

* C3=36 gr; H9=9 gr; O3=48 gr; B=10.8 TOTAL=103.8 gr

48, 36, 10.8, 9

* %C=34.7 %H=8.7   %O=46.2   %B=10.4 (%10B=1.13 and %11B=8.33)

46.2, 34.7, 8.7, 8.33, 1.13