Molar mass

The molar mass sums the IUPAC standard atomic weights, using the conventional value for elements whose weight is given as an interval (hydrogen 1.008, carbon 12.011, sulfur 32.06). It is shown to the number of decimals of the least precise atomic weight in the formula, so CuSO₄·5H₂O gets two decimals because of sulfur; the unrounded value is under Details.

The monoisotopic mass uses the mass of the most abundant isotope of every element, the nominal mass its mass number. Labelled atoms, written [13C], D or T, count with their own nuclide mass and are taken as fully enriched. For an ion, one electron mass, 0.000 548 579 909 u, is subtracted per positive charge and added per negative charge.

Every element's natural isotope distribution is raised to its atom count by repeated squaring, and the element distributions are then convolved with each other. In centroid mode the isotopologues are grouped by nominal mass and each group is reported at its intensity-weighted mean m/z, which is what a mass spectrometer at ordinary resolution shows; this is exact apart from dropping contributions below 10⁻¹² of the largest. Fine structure keeps isotopologues apart, merges those closer than 0.1 mDa and drops those below 10⁻⁸ of the largest, which resolves, for example, ³⁴S from ¹³C₂.

Adduct m/z values follow m/z = (M + adduct − z·m_e) / |z|. The copy button gives the line in the form the ACS journals print, for example “[M + H]+ Calcd for C8H11N4O2 195.0877”. The ACS guidelines ask that found and calculated m/z agree within 0.003 m/z units, the limit the found m/z check uses.

Calculated percentages are mass fractions from the standard atomic weights. Journals ask for found values within ±0.4 % (absolute) of the calculated ones. If a sample holds solvent, enter it as a solvate, for example 0.5 × H2O, and the calculated values are for C₈H₁₀N₄O₂·0.5H₂O.

Standard atomic weights: IUPAC Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights, “Standard atomic weights of the elements 2021”, Pure Appl. Chem. 94, 573 (2022). Isotope masses and natural abundances: NIST, Atomic Weights and Isotopic Compositions for All Elements (Standard Reference Database 144). Electron mass: CODATA 2018, Rev. Mod. Phys. 93, 025010 (2021). Reporting criteria: ACS Author Guidelines for The Journal of Organic Chemistry and Organic Letters.