A time-gated Raman spectroscopy and mass spectrometry comparative chemical analysis of plasticizers

Published

July 13, 2026

Author(s)

Julie Rieland, Yamil Simon, Adam Zuber, Anthony Kotula, Kalman Migler, William Wallace, Kathryn Beers

Abstract

Quantitative characterization of post-consumer plastics is challenging because of the large number of unique chemical additives potentially contained within. Plasticizers represent a critical family of such additives – they are used to lower the glass transition temperature and add flexibility but are difficult to identify in recycling and end-of-life processes. Two critical analytical techniques in such identifications are mass spectrometry (high resolution, selectivity, and sensitivity) and Raman spectroscopy (non-destructive, quicker and simple sample preparation). Here, we generate searchable libraries for the identification of 91 common plasticizers using these two techniques in conjunction with development of reliable tools for measuring their spectral similarity. We then analyze the reliability of identifications based on Raman and/or mass spectrometry, explicitly highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each technique for a given family of chemical species. We have applied these tools to identify plasticizers in a NIST standard reference material (SRM 2860, which contains plasticizers in PVC), followed by the semi-quantification of the plasticizers.

Citation

ACS Polymers Au

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

chemometrics, plasticizers, polymers

Citation

Rieland, J. , Simon, Y. , Zuber, A. , Kotula, A. , Migler, K. , Wallace, W. and Beers, K. (2026), A time-gated Raman spectroscopy and mass spectrometry comparative chemical analysis of plasticizers, ACS Polymers Au, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=961842 (Accessed September 26, 2026)

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