Title: nth-generation product ion
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - <i>n</i><sup>th</sup>-generation product ion
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.12510
Status: current

Definition
Serial product ions from dissociation or bimolecular reaction of selected precursor ions where \(n\) refers to the number of stages of dissociation or bimolecular reaction in a series of consecutive reactions that involve successive product ions.

Note
Given the sequential fragmentation scheme: \[\ce{M1^{+} -> M2^{+} -> M3^{+} -> M4^{+} -> M5^{+}}\] \(\ce{M4^{+}}\) is the precursor ion of \(\ce{M5^{+}}\), a 1st-generation product ion of \(\ce{M3^{+}}\), a 2nd-generation product ion of \(\ce{M2^{+}}\), and a 3rd-generation product ion of \(\ce{M1^{+}}\).

Related Term
- nth-generation product ion spectrum: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/12511

Source
- PAC, 2013, 85, 1515. 'Definitions of terms relating to mass spectrometry (IUPAC Recommendations 2013)' on page 1573 (https://doi.org/10.1351/PAC-REC-06-04-06)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12510/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12510/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12510/xml

Citation: Citation: '<i>n</i><sup>th</sup>-generation product ion' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.12510
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Accessed: 2026-08-08T23:39:05+00:00