MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry detection of intramolecular composition gradient in copolymers

Olga Trhlíková; Miroslav Janata; Zuzana Walterová; Lívia Kanizsová; Eva Čadová; Jiří Horský

doi:10.1016/j.talanta.2018.11.058

MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry detection of intramolecular composition gradient in copolymers

Talanta. 2019 Apr 1:195:215-220. doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2018.11.058. Epub 2018 Nov 20.

Authors

Olga Trhlíková¹, Miroslav Janata², Zuzana Walterová², Lívia Kanizsová², Eva Čadová², Jiří Horský³

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Czech Academy of Sciences, Heyrovského nám. 2, 162 06 Prague 6, Czech Republic. Electronic address: trhlikova@imc.cas.cz.
² Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Czech Academy of Sciences, Heyrovského nám. 2, 162 06 Prague 6, Czech Republic.
³ Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Czech Academy of Sciences, Heyrovského nám. 2, 162 06 Prague 6, Czech Republic. Electronic address: horsky@imc.cas.cz.

PMID: 30625534
DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2018.11.058

Abstract

Since their addition to the polymer-architecture portfolio, gradient copolymers have attracted significant attention. Up to now, however, the existence of the intramolecular composition gradient must have been ascertained by sampling during living copolymerization because a reliable method for the detection of the composition gradient in the finalized copolymer had not been established yet. Here we show that MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry not only identifies imperfect, i.e. prematurely terminated copolymers but these copolymers can be used as "time capsules" which provide information on composition evolution and the intramolecular composition gradient.

Keywords: Bivariate distribution; Gradient copolymers; MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry; Polymer analysis.