The Influence of Electrospray Deposition in Matrix-assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Mass Spectrometry Sample Preparation for Synthetic Polymers

Published

May 1, 2004

Author(s)

S Wetzel, Charles M. Guttman, Kathleen M. Flynn

Abstract

Three polymers of differing thermal stability, polystyrene (PS), polyethylene glycol (PEG), and polypropylene glycol (PPG) were studied by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) as the electro-spray deposition voltage was varied. Both the PEG and the PPG molecular mass distributions (MMD) reveal fragmentation in MALDI-MS. Electro-spray deposition increases the repeatability of MALDI, although the electro-spray deposition voltage may affect the synthetic polymer MMD. The polymer MMD obtained using the electro-spray deposition method was also compared with the MMD of hand-spotted samples. No change is seen in the polymer MMD when the electro-spray deposition voltage is varied in the analysis of PS, but increased fragmentation results for both PEG and PPG due to the voltage of the electrospray deposition method.

Citation

Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry

Volume

18

Issue

No. 10

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Electrospray deposition, MALDI, mass spectrometry, polyethylene glycol, polymer characterization, polypropylene glycol, polystyrene

Citation

Wetzel, S. , Guttman, C. and Flynn, K. (2004), The Influence of Electrospray Deposition in Matrix-assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Mass Spectrometry Sample Preparation for Synthetic Polymers, Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=852286 (Accessed October 18, 2025)