Concomitant bond formation and bond fission in the mass spectral fragmentation of an organometallic molecule

Abstract

Examination of the mass spectra of fac-(nbd)Mo(¹³CO)(CO)₃(nbd = norbornadiene)(1) and fac-(bcnt)Mo(¹³CO)(CO)₃(bcnt = bicyclo[6.1.0]nona-2,4-6-triene)(2) shows that in the former loss of CO occurs with complete scrambling, while that in the latter is by almost exclusive loss of the labelled group; this is interpreted in terms of accompanying formation of a new metal–olefin bond on loss of CO from (2).