Polyethylene oxide electrospraying

To overcome the difficulties of ESI-MS, Simonsick and Prokai added sodium cations to the mobile phase to facilitate ionization [165,166]. To simplify the resulting ESI spectra, the number of components entering the ion source was reduced. Combining SEC with electrospray detection, the elution curves of polyethylene oxides) were calibrated. The chemical composition distribution of acrylic macromonomers was profiled across the molar mass distribution. The analysis of poly(ethylene oxides) by SEC-ESI-MS with respect to chemical composition and oligomer distribution was discussed by Simonsick [167]. In a similar approach aliphatic polyesters [168], phenolic resins [169], methyl methacrylate macromonomers [169] and polysulfides have been analyzed [170]. The detectable mass range for different species, however, was well below 5000 g/mol, indicating that the technique is not really suited for polymer analysis. 

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