Cn. Mcewen et al., INSTRUMENTAL EFFECTS IN THE ANALYSIS OF POLYMERS OF WIDE POLYDISPERSITY BY MALDI MASS-SPECTROMETRY, International journal of mass spectrometry and ion processes, 160(1-3), 1997, pp. 387-394
Citations number
17
Categorie Soggetti
Spectroscopy,"Physics, Atomic, Molecular & Chemical
Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) time-of-flight (to
f) mass spectrometry (MS) has been reported to give low number average
and weight average molecular weight values for polymers of wide polyd
ispersity. Spectra of wide polydisperse polymers more closely resemble
the distribution observed by size exclusion chromatography when obtai
ned in the reflectron mode. However, the highest mass molecules in the
distribution are not observed. These high-mass ions can be observed w
hen the more abundant lower mass ions are deflected from reaching the
detector. In addition, a mixture of three narrow distribution polymer
standards selected to provide a wide mass distribution do not show dis
crimination against the high-mass molecules. These results are interpr
eted to suggest that the difficulty in observing accurate molecular we
ight distributions by MALDI-TOF-MS is at least in part attributable to
instrumental limitations rather than ionization limitations. (C) 1997
Elsevier Science B.V.