What is the difference between chemical ionization and electron ionization? (a) Chemical ionization produces more fragments of the molecules and thus makes the spectra easier to interpret. (b) Chemical ionization yields less fragmentation than electron

The answer is (b) Chemical ionization yields less fragmentation than electron ionization. Chemical ionization (CI) and electron ionization (EI) are ionization methods used in mass spectrometry. In CI, a reagent gas such as methane or ammonia is ionized and used to ionize the sample molecules, resulting in the formation of protonated or deprotonated molecular ions with minimal fragmentation. On the other hand, EI involves the use of high-energy electrons to ionize the sample, resulting in the formation of many fragment ions in addition to the molecular ions. As a result, EI is generally considered to produce more complex spectra that can be more difficult to interpret, while CI produces simpler spectra with less fragmentation. Therefore, option (b) is the correct answer.