Mass spectrometric study of oligourea macrocycles and their anion binding behavior

Two series, one of tris-urea macrocycles and another of hexakis-urea macrocycles, are examined by (tandem) Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) mass spectrometry with respect to their fragmentation patterns and anion binding properties. All macrocycles are based on two different building blocks, one of which is a very rigid xanthene unit and the other one is a more flexible diphenyl ether. The composition and the sequence of these units thus determine their flexibility. During the fragmentation of deprotonated oligourea macrocycles in the gas phase, one urea N-CO bond is cleaved followed by a scrambling reaction within the macrocycle structure. Consequently, fragments are obser…