DIRECT CHEMICAL-ANALYSIS OF UV LASER-ABLATION PRODUCTS OF ORGANIC POLYMERS BY USING SELECTIVE ION MONITORING MODE IN GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY

Trace quantities of laser ablated organic polymers were analyzed by us ing commercial capillary column gas chromatography/mass spectrometry; the instrument was modified so that the laser ablation products could be introduced into the capillary column directly and the constituents of each peak in the chromatogram were identified by using a mass spect rometer. The present study takes advantage of the selective ion monito ring mode for significantly improving the sensitivity of the mass spec trometer as a detector, which is critical in analyzing the trace quant ities and confirming the presence or absence of the species of interes t in laser ablated polymers. The initial composition of the laser abla ted polymers was obtained by using an electron impact reflectron time- of-flight mass spectrometer and the possible structure of the fragment s observed in the spectra was proposed based on the structure of the p olymers.