A comparison of electrospray ionization and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry with nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for the characterization of synthetic co-polymers

Electrospray ionization (ESI-MS) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI-MS) were used to determine the composition (monomer ratios) and structure (end group analysis) relative to (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and theoretical predictions for three different co-polymers: poly(butyl acrylate/vinyl acetate) (PBA/PVAc), poly(methyl methacrylate/ vinyl acetate) (PMMA/PVAc) and poly(butyl acrylate/methyl methacrylate) (PBA/PMMA). We found that the ESI results were in excellent agreement with (1)H NMR spectroscopy for PBA/PVAc and PBA/PMMA co-polymers, whereas there was more divergence in the case of PMMA/PVAc. In the case of PBA/PMMA co-polymers, a similar distribution of products was observed by ESI-MS and MALDI-MS with the two major product classes differing by their end-groups. One class has hydrogen and dodecylthio end groups while, in the other, the dodecylthio has been replaced by alpha-cyanoisopropyl from the initiator. The relative abundance of these distributions as a function of co-polymer conversion for a series of reaction conditions was investigated by both ESI and MALDI. MALDI results consistently underestimated (relative to ESI) the butylacrylate monomer ratio in PBA/PMMA and the abundance of co-polymer oligomers terminated by a dodecylthio group from the chain transfer agent.