Pyrolysis-field ionization mass characterization

Analytical pyrolysis is defined as the characterization of a material or a chemical process by the instrumental analysis of its pyrolysis products (Ericsson and Lattimer, 1989). The most important analytical pyrolysis methods widely applied to environmental samples are Curie-point (flash) pyrolysis combined with electron impact (El) ionization gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Cp Py-GC/MS) and pyrolysis-field ionization mass spectrometry (Py-FIMS). In contrast to the fragmenting El ionization, soft ionization methods, such as field ionization (FI) and field desorption (FD) each in combination with MS, result in the formation of molecule ions either without, or with only very low, fragmentation (Lehmann and Schulten, 1976 Schulten, 1987 Schulten and Leinweber, 1996 Schulten et al., 1998). The molecule ions are potentially similar to the original sample, which makes these methods particularly suitable to the investigation of complex environmental samples of unknown composition. 

A variety of volatilization/ionization methods have been applied to polymers a recent review or key paper is cited here for each. Extensive reviews that include mass spectrometry of pol5mrers can be found in Analytical Chemistry Other to )ical reviews are field desorption, laser desorption, plasma desorption, fast-atom bombardment, pyrolysis, and electrospray ionization. The present review will focus on polymer characterization using secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) in the high mass range comparison with other methods will be presented where appropriate. 

---