Isotope Effects
Isotope peaks within a spectra can help in structure elucidation. Compounds containing halogens (especially chlorine and bromine) can produce very distinct isotope peaks. The mass spectrum of methylbromide has two prominent peaks of equal intensity at m/z 94 (M) and 96 (M+2) and then two more at 79 and 81 belonging to the bromine fragment.
Even when compounds only contain elements with less intense isotope peaks (carbon or oxygen), the distribution of these peaks can be used to assign the spectrum to the correct compound. For example, two compounds with identical mass of 150 Da, C8H12N3+ and C9H10O2+, will have two different M+2 intensities which makes it possible to distinguish between them.
Read more about this topic: Mass Spectrum Analysis
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