ABSTRACT
Characterization ........................................................................... 217 10.2 Characterization of Polymeric Architectures by Multidimensional
ESI-IMS-MS .............................................................................................. 218 10.2.1 Sensitive and Rapid Analysis of Homopolymers ......................... 218 10.2.2 Bulk Fragmentation Analysis of Homopolymers and Blends ..... 222 10.2.3 Snapshot Analysis of Blends and Copolymers ............................225 10.2.4 Conformational Analysis of Polymeric Structures ...................... 227
10.3 Characterization of Industrial Polymeric Architectures Using Commercial IMS-MS Instrumentation ...................................................... 229
10.4 Scope of Potential Use ............................................................................... 232 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................. 232 References .............................................................................................................. 232
promised for future polymer generations through new synthetic methods in which the 3-D shape has functional importance similar to that observed with proteins.(8) Additionally, the increased use of polymers in association with drugs and drug delivery,(9-11) medical devices,(12) foods,(13) cosmetics,(11) perfumes,(14) and nanoparticles(3,11) is generating regulatory scrutiny that necessitates detailed manufacturing control and knowledge of composition. Partly for these reasons a workshop held in Arlington, Virginia, on the Future of Polymer Science and was attended by representatives from NIST, NSF, DOE, NIH, and NASA, who concluded, “More research is needed to improve polymer characterization techniques, tailor make polymers, and to control processing of polymers”.(15)
No single analytical technique can provide detailed characterization of complex mixtures of closely related molecules as is frequently encountered with polymeric systems. Mass spectrometry (MS) is one of the most promising because of its high sensitivity and mass resolution, and especially because of its ability to characterize individual oligomeric molecules of a polymer distribution. Many polymers and polymeric blends are too complex to be detected and analyzed directly by MS techniques, and condensedseparation methods are employed but suffer the drawbacks discussed earlier.
