Twenty-one pentafluorphenylhydrazones have been analyzed by means of tandem mass spectrometry (ESI MS/MS) conditions to compare their fragmentations with those ones obtained from quantum-chemical calculations of the hydrazone moiety depending on the substitution from the aldehyde site. The hydrazone N-N bond is disrupted under such conditions, and these results are in accordance with the facts that an electron-rich particle, such as an anion and or radical in a solution, can cause this disruption and simultaneous defluorination in para-position of the hydrazone part of the molecule.
Keywords: defluorination; heterocyclic; hydrazone disruption; hydrazones; pentafluorophenyhydrazones; quantum calculations.
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