A New Method for Mass Spectrometry of Polyethylene Waxes: The Chloride Ion Attachment Technique by Atmospheric Pressure Photoionization

Degradation strategies for structural characterization of insoluble synthetic polymers by mass spectrometry

With the advent of soft ionization techniques such as electrospray (ESI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) to produce intact gas-phase ions from nonvolatile macromolecules, mass spectrometry has become an essential technique in the field of polymeric materials. However, (co)polymers of very high molecular weight or with reticulated architectures still escape ESI or MALDI, mainly due to solubility issues. Strategies developed to tackle such an analytical challenge all rely on sample degradation to produce low-mass species amenable to existing ionization methods. Yet, chain degradation needs to be partial and controlled to generate sufficiently large species that still contain topological or architectural information. The present article reviews the different analytical degradation strategies implemented to perform mass spectrometry of these challenging synthetic polymers, covering thermal degradation approaches in sources developed in the 2000s, off-line sample pre-treatments for controlled chemical degradation of polymeric substrates, and most recent achievements employing reactive ionization modes to perform chemolysis on-line with MS.

Hyphenation of size-exclusion chromatography to mass spectrometry for precision polymer analysis – a tutorial review

Herein we demonstrate how SEC-ESI-MS can be used to analyze complex polymers, a significant challenge in contemporary polymer chemistry.

Characterization of polyalphaolefins using halogen anion attachment in atmospheric pressure photoionization coupled with ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry

Polyalphaolefins are saturated alpha olefin oligomers efficiently ionized by APPI.

Characterization of Polyolefin Pyrolysis Species Produced Under Ambient Conditions by Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry and Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry

Polyolefins such as polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) are often characterized from their pyrolysis products by Py-MS. Nowadays the development of plasma-based direct probe atmospheric pressure sources allow the direct analysis of these polymers. These sources operate at atmospheric pressure, which implies a limited control of the ionization conditions. It was shown that side reactions could occur with species present in air, such as O_2, which may lead to the formation of oxidized compounds. In this work, ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FTICR) were used for the exhaustive characterization of the PP and PE pyrolysis ions produced using plasma-based atmospheric pressure ion sources. Both PP and PE yielded distributions of pyrolysis products presenting different amounts of unsaturation but also different numbers of oxygen atoms. In addition, the ions produced from PP presented a lower collision cross-section (CCS) than those produced from PE. In the same way, both PP and PE present repeated patterns separated by 14 m/z in the bidimensional drift time versus m/z plots. Within these plots, several trend lines can be evidenced, which are specific of each polymer investigated. Differences were observed between isotactic and atactic samples concerning the pyrolysis profile relative abundance and collision cross-section. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.

Gas-Phase Interaction of Anions with Polyisobutylenes: Collision-Induced Dissociation Study and Quantum Chemical Modeling

The gas-phase interaction of anions including fluoride, chloride, bromide, iodide, ethyl sulfate, chlorate, and nitrate with polyisobutylene (PIB) derivatives was studied using collision-induced dissociation (CID). The gas-phase adducts of anions with PIBs ([PIB + anion](-)) were generated from the electrosprayed solution of PIBs in the presence of the corresponding anions. The so-formed adducts subjected to CID showed a loss of anion at different characteristic collision energies, thus allowing the study of the strength of interaction between the anions and nonpolar PIBs having different end-groups. The values of characteristic collision energies (the energy needed to obtain 50% fragmentation) obtained by CID experiments correlated linearly with the binding enthalpies between the anion and PIB, as determined by density functional theory calculations. In the case of halide ions, the critical energies for dissociation, that is, the binding enthalpies for [PIB + anion](-) adducts, increased in the order of I(-) < Br(-) < Cl(-) < F(-). Furthermore, it was found that the binding enthalpies for the adducts formed with halide ions decreased approximately with the square radius of the halide ion, suggesting that the strength of interaction is mainly determined by the "surface" charge density of the halide ion. In addition, the characteristic collision energy versus the number of isobutylene units revealed a linear dependence.

Can Nonpolar Polyisobutylenes be Measured by Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry? Anion-Attachment Proved to be an Appropriate Method

Polyisobutylenes (PIBs) with different end-groups including chlorine, exo-olefin, hydroxyl, and methyl prepared from aliphatic and aromatic initiators were studied by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). Independently of the end-groups, presence or absence of aromatic initiator moiety, these PIB derivatives were capable of forming adduct ions with NO3 (-) and Cl(-) ions, thus allowing the direct characterization of these compounds in the negative ion mode of ESI-MS. To obtain [PIB + NO3](-) and [PIB + Cl](-) adduct ions with appreciable intensities, addition of polar solvents such as acetone, 2-propanol, or ethanol to the dichloromethane solution of PIBs was necessary. Furthermore, increasing both the polarity (by increasing the acetone content) and the ion-source temperature give rise to enhanced intensities for both [PIB + NO3](-) and [PIB + Cl](-) ions. Energy-dependent collision induced dissociation studies (CID) revealed that increasing the collision voltages resulted in the shift of the apparent molecular masses to higher ones. CID studies also showed that dissociation of the [PIB + Cl](-) ions requires higher collision energy than that of [PIB + NO3](-). In addition, Density Functional Theory calculations were performed to gain insights into the nature of the interactions between the highly non-polar PIB chains and anions NO3 (-) and Cl(-) as well as to determine the zero-point corrected electronic energies for the formation of [PIB + NO3](-) and [PIB + Cl](-) adduct ions.

Direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry (DART-MS) of highly non-polar low molecular weight polyisobutylenes

Low molecular weight polyisobutylenes (PIB) with chlorine, olefin and succinic acid end-groups were studied using direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry (DART-MS). To facilitate the adduct ion formation under DART conditions, NH₄ Cl as an auxiliary reagent was deposited onto the PIB surface. It was found that chlorinated adduct ions of olefin and chlorine telechelic PIBs, i.e. [M + Cl]^- up to m/z 1100, and the deprotonated polyisobutylene succinic acid [MH]^- were formed as observed in the negative ion mode. In the positive ion mode formation of [M + NH₄ ]⁺ , adduct ions were detected. In the tandem mass (MS/MS) spectra of [M + Cl]^- , product ions were absent, suggesting a simple dissociation of the precursor [M + Cl]^- into a Cl^- ion and a neutral M without fragmentation of the PIB backbones. However, structurally important product ions were produced from the corresponding [M + NH₄ ]⁺ ions, allowing us to obtain valuable information on the arm-length distributions of the PIBs containing aromatic initiator moiety. In addition, a model was developed to interpret the oligomer distributions and the number average molecular weights observed in DART-MS for PIBs and other polymers of low molecular weight. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

APCI/APPI for synthetic polymer analysis

Modern mass spectrometry of synthetic polymers involves soft ionization techniques. Whereas matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) and electrospray (ESI) are employed routinely, atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) and more recently atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI) are used to a lesser extent. However, these latter ionization methods coupled to liquid-phase separation techniques create new opportunities for the characterization of polymers, especially for low molecular weight compounds or for the polymers that are poorly ionizable by the usual methods. After a part devoted to the description of classical MS methods employed for polymer analysis (MALDI, ESI, and their use with chromatography), APCI and APPI techniques will be described, discussed, and selected examples will present the interest of these ionization sources (or interfaces for LC/MS) in the field of polymer analysis.

Dopant-assisted atmospheric pressure photoionization mass spectrometry of polyisobutylene derivatives initiated by mono- and bifunctional initiators

Nine polyisobutylene (PIB) derivatives with different end groups (chlorine, vinyl, isobutenyl, 2,2-diphenylvinyl, and carboxyl) and molecular weights (1000 to 4500 g/mol), initiated by monofunctional and aromatic bifunctional initiators were studied by atmospheric pressure photoionization mass spectrometry (APPI-MS) in both negative and positive ion modes. Consistent with previous findings, negative ion APPI-MS revealed end-group identities through the formation of PIB adducts with chloride ions formed in situ from a chlorinated solvent (e.g., CCl4) in the presence of a dopant (toluene). In positive ion mode, considerable fragmentation of these PIB derivatives was observed, rendering end-group determinations very difficult. The M(n) values obtained by APPI(-)-MS were considerably lower than those determined by SEC for PIB derivatives with M(n) higher than 2000 g/mol. PIBs containing carboxyl termini can undergo collision-induced dissociation, yielding structurally important product ions. The resulting APPI-MS/MS intensities were found to reflect the "arm-length" distribution for PIBs with bifunctional aromatic moieties. In positive ion mode, [M + COCl]+ adducts were observed for PIBs with an aromatic initiator moiety. The origin of the COCl+ species is also discussed.