Polymer chemistry tools spectrometry

The Expanding Role of Mass Spectrometry as a Tool for Polymer Chemistry... 

Innovations to mass spectrometry (MS) ionization sources and mass analyzers have helped usher in a new era in polymer chemistry in which the mass spectrometer is viewed as an essential tool that complements classical methods of polymer characterization. MS can be employed for the direct characterization of individual molecules, enabling not only determination of molecular mass and molecular mass distributions, but also determination of structural aspects of polymers such as end-group composition, repeat unit composition and sequence, and the presence of impurities and unintended side products. Here, we review some particular challenges faced for polymer characterization by MS. Synthetic polymers are polydisperse and require fractionation to reduce the complexity of samples analyzed by MS. Different approaches integrating gel permeation chromatography (GPC) with MS analysis for this application are compared and discussed. Next, several different MS... 

Mass spectrometry is an indispensable analytical tool in chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacy, and medicine. No student, researcher or practitioner in these disciplines can really get along without a substantial knowledge of mass spectrometry. Mass spectrometry is employed to analyze combinatorial libraries [1,2] sequence biomolecules, [3] and help explore single cells [4,5] or other planets. [6] Structure elucidation of unknowns, environmental and forensic analytics, quality control of drugs, flavors and polymers they all rely to a great extent on mass spectrometry. [7-11]... 

The chemistry of polymer surfaces and their wear can be measured in situ with Auger electron spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry. These tools provide elemental, compound analysis and distinguish among a series of homologs respectively. 

Mass spectrometry (MS) has been one of the most important analytical methods in chemistry for many decades but its use was originally limited to relatively small and volatile organic molecules. This situation changed dramatically in 1981 when Barber and coworkers [1, 2) introduced a method named Fast Atom Bombardment (FAB). This was the first practical technique which made possible the generation and transfer to the gas phase of ions of polar, nonvolatile, and thermally unstable compounds, including the most important biomolecules such as peptides, nucleic acids, and sugars. Such methods are called mild or soft ionization techniques. Since that time MS has been constantly gaining importance as the major analytical tool in biochemistry as well as in polymer and supramolecular chemistry. 

Giorgio Montaudo, Ph.D. is a Professor of industrial chemistry at the Department of Chemistry, University of Catania, Italy and Director of the Institute for Chemistry Technology of Polymeric Materials of the National Cormcil of Research of Italy, Catania. Dr. Montaudo received a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Catania. He was a postdoctoral associate at tire Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (1966) and at tire University of Michigan (1967-68 and 1971) and he was a Humboldt Foundation Fellow, 1973 at Mainz University. Dr. Montaudo has been active in the field of the synthesis, degradation, and characterization of polymeric materials. A major section of his activity has been dedicated to develop mass spectrometry of polymers as analytical and structural tools for the analysis of polymers. He is tire author of more than 300 publications in international journals and chapters in books. 

When I began research in organic chemistry, polymers vere very poorly imderstood. Staudinger vas Just beginning to proclaim them as macromolecules rather than aggregates which were held together in some mysterious manner. There were no techniques such as infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry to use as routine tools for structure determinations. It was then necessary to use chemical methods. 

Applications employing laser ablation of polymers include film deposition and the synthesis of certain organic compounds. Laser beam ablation in conjunction with mass spectrometry is an important tool for polymer analysis, which is referred to as laser desorption mass spectrometry (LDMS). One particular type of LDMS, termed matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI), has contributed essentially to the analysis of proteins (Nobel prize for chemistry to K. Tanaka in 2002) [126,127]. Further information on this subject is available in Ref [4]. 

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