Mass spectrometry of polymers: A tutorial review

Ever since the inception of synthetic polymeric materials in the late 19th century, the number of studies on polymers as well as the complexity of their structures have only increased. The development and commercialization of new polymers with properties fine‐tuned for specific technological, enviro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Mass spectrometry reviews 2024-05, Vol.43 (3), p.427-476
Main Authors: Wesdemiotis, Chrys, Williams‐Pavlantos, Kayla N., Keating, Addie R., McGee, Andrew S., Bochenek, Calum
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amino acid sequence
complex mixtures and blends
Ionization
Mass spectrometry
Mass spectroscopy
multidimensional MS techniques
Polymers
Reviews
Scientific imaging
Surface properties
surfaces
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Summary:Ever since the inception of synthetic polymeric materials in the late 19th century, the number of studies on polymers as well as the complexity of their structures have only increased. The development and commercialization of new polymers with properties fine‐tuned for specific technological, environmental, consumer, or biomedical applications requires powerful analytical techniques that permit the in‐depth characterization of these materials. One such method with the ability to provide chemical composition and structure information with high sensitivity, selectivity, specificity, and speed is mass spectrometry (MS). This tutorial review presents and exemplifies the various MS techniques available for the elucidation of specific structural features in a synthetic polymer, including compositional complexity, primary structure, architecture, topology, and surface properties. Key to every MS analysis is sample conversion to gas‐phase ions. This review describes the fundamentals of the most suitable ionization methods for synthetic materials and provides relevant sample preparation protocols. Most importantly, structural characterizations via one‐step as well as hyphenated or multidimensional approaches are introduced and demonstrated with specific applications, including surface sensitive and imaging techniques. The aim of this tutorial review is to illustrate the capabilities of MS for the characterization of large, complex polymers and emphasize its potential as a powerful compositional and structural elucidation tool in polymer chemistry.
ISSN:0277-7037
1098-2787
DOI:10.1002/mas.21844