Chiral recognition of borneol by association with zinc(II) and l-tryptophan in the gas phase Original Research Article

Chiral recognition of the racemic borneol was obtained in the gas phase by using electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-TOFMS) and electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (ESI-FTMS). Both single stage MS and tandem MS were employed for investigating the chiral recognition depending strongly on the stereochemistry of the ligands in the zinc(II)–l-tryptophan–borneol multimeric cluster ions. It was found that the type of acid which was used for adjusting the pH of the mixed solution played an important role in the chiral recognition, which was obtained when acetic acid or propanoic acid was used as an additive. No chiral recognition was observed using hydrochloric acid or formic acid. Furthermore, the nozzle potential was an important parameter for optimizing the discrimination of chirality. In tandem MS, the difference in intensity between two diastereomeric complex ions showed chiral recognition behavior. Such a difference could be determined by two approaches. One was using the fragment ion as an internal standard, the other was a new approach of using the isotopic form of parent complex ion as an internal standard.