STRUCTURAL ELUCIDATION OF MINOR COMPONENTS IN THE ANTIMYCIN A COMPLEX BY MASS SPECTROMETRY

Mass spectrometry has been employed in the study of the antimycin A complex. This has been necessary for two reasons. On one hand, a complete fragmentation scheme is proposed based upon electron ionization, chemical ionization, and accurate mass determinations of the ions in the mass spectra of the antimycin A complex and four simple chemical derivatives. On the other hand, a more rapid qualitative and semiquantitative analysis is shown. Incidental to these findings is the interesting fact that the amide and lactone bonds undergo gas phase ammonolysis.