Abstract
Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) is becoming an important tool for mechanistic studies in organic and organometallic chemistry. It allows investigation of reaction mixtures including monitoring of reactants, products, and intermediates, studying properties of the intermediates and their reactivity.
Studying the reactive species in the gas phase can be advantageously combined with theoretical calculations. This review is focused on ESI-MS studies of copper-catalyzed reactions.
Possible effects of the electrospray process on the transfer of the copper complexes to the gas phase are discussed. The plethora of mass spectrometric approaches is demonstrated on copper mediated C-H activations, cross coupling reactions, rearrangements, organocuprate chemistry, and other examples.