Fundamentals of the application of matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization mass spectrometry to low mass poly(methylmethacrylate) polymers.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization (MALDI) time of flight is shown to give a molar peak area response for isolated methylmethacrylate oligomers that have 25 and 50 repeat units when run on three different instruments in reflectron or linear mode and using three different matrix materials. In addition, fragmentation was not observed in any of the three different matrices or at higher laser power. No spectral differences were observed for syndiotactic and isotactic methylmethacrylate oligomers. These results suggest that the low most probable peak values observed for narrow distribution poly(methylmethacrylate) standards by MALDI mass spectrometry are not the result of mass discrimination or fragmentation.