HOW FEASIBLE IS MATRIX-ASSISTED LASER DESORPTION IONISATION TIME-OF-FLIGHT MASS-SPECTROMETRY ANALYSIS OF POLYOLEFINS/

Ab initio quantum calculations were applied to obtain binding energies for sodium cation-oligomer complexes comprising either methanol, ethy lene glycol oligomers or n-alkanes. In addition, it was experimentally shown using sodium cations that ethylene glycol oligomers could not b e detected when consisting of less than 5 monomers. This observation a nd the fact that experimentally no matrix-assisted laser desorption/io nisation mass spectra have been reported for saturated polyolefins are now attributed to the low binding energy of the sodium-oligomer compl exes, which is insufficient to prevent dissociation of the complexes i n multiple collisions occurring in the extraction section of the mass spectrometer. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.