Characterization of synthetic polymers by electrospray-assisted pyrolysis ionization-mass spectrometry.

Rapid characterization of synthetic polymers based on the differences in the appearance of the polar pyrolysate ions was achieved by electrospray-assisted pyrolysis ionization-mass spectrometry. The pyrolytical products produced by a commercial Curie point pyroprobe were conducted to the tip of a capillary, where charged methanol droplets were generated continuously by electrospray. Polar components in the pyrolysates may react directly with the protonated methanol ions or fuse with the charged methanol droplets; electrospray ionization proceeds from the fused droplets to generate protonated analyte ions. The mass spectra obtained through this approach were used to rapidly distinguish the polymer standards that differ in the nature of building units, degrees of polymerization, and copolymerization coefficients.