Gas-phase study of the stability of α-substituted cyclic amino nitriles under electron ionization and electrospray ionization and fragmentation peculiarities of cyclic ketimines.

Similarities in the behavior of the α-substituted cyclic amino nitriles under electron ionization, electrospray ionization, thermolysis and reaction in solution under acidic catalysis were discovered and confirmed by MS/MS experiments. Fragmentation schemes of the studied nitriles and corresponding imines are proposed.