Fragmenting nanoPutians: Capturing admiration to the rationality, predictability, and beauty of ion chemistry in mass spectrometry.

The fragmentation chemistry of the protonated and ionized nanoPutian 1 has been studied in the gas phase via electrospray ionization and tandem mass spectrometry. A direct analogy was observed between the fragmentation chemistry of this fascinating "humanoid molecule" and "cleavages" at certain parts of the human body. We argue that such direct analogy and illustrative schemes for the fragmentation of molecular ions of 1 offer a ludic and efficient tool to teach and capture attention to ion chemistry in mass spectrometry. Using the changes in mass for the two heavier nanoPutians with different head styles but the same body design, the analogy has also been used to predict mass spectra. The concepts of isotopic labelling and dissociation thresholds have also been illustrated. For many years, the approach has been successfully used by one of us in classes and lectures, mainly when presenting ion chemistry to students and audiences from fields other than Chemistry, most particularly from Biology, Medicine, and Forensic Chemistry.