Mass spectrometry in cardenolide chemistry-I

The mass spectrum of penta acetyl gitoxin is reported and discussed. This cardenolide derivative has recently been the subject of extensive metabolic study. Fragmentation processes are described which account for all of the major ions. High resolution measurements, metastable peaks and mass shifts, for the propionyl derivative, are reported to establish the validity of these proposals. A brief indication of the potential value of this technique, when combined with deuteroacetylation, to metabolic studies in this field is given, along with comments on the spectra of related compounds.