TY - JOUR A1 - Dalgic, Mete-Sungur A1 - Weidner, Steffen T1 - Solvent-free sample preparation for matrix-assisted laserdesorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry ofpolymer blends N2 - Solvent-free sample preparation offers some advantages over solvent-based techniques, such as improved accuracy, reproducibility and sensitivity, for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) analysis. However, little or no information is available on the application of solvent-free techniques for the MALDI analysis of polymer blends. Solvent-free sample preparation by ball milling was applied with varying sample-to-matrix ratios for MALDI time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis of various polymers, including polystyrenes, poly(methyl methacrylate)s and poly(ethylene glycol)s. The peak intensity ratios were compared with those obtained after using the conventional dried droplet sample preparation method. In addition, solvent-assisted milling was also applied to improve sample homogeneities. Depending on the sample preparation method used, different peak intensity ratios were found, showing varying degrees of suppression of the signal intensities of higher mass polymers. Ball milling for up to 30 min was required to achieve constant intensity ratios indicating homogeneous mixtures. The use of wet-assisted grinding to improve the homogeneity of the blends was found to be disadvantageous as it caused partial degradation and mass-dependent segregation of the polymers in the vials.The results clearly show that solvent-free sample preparation must be carefully considered when applied to synthetic polymer blends, as it may cause additional problems with regard to homogeneity and stability of the blends. KW - MALDI TOF MS KW - Sample preparation KW - Polymer blends KW - Solvent-free PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-598570 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/rcm.9756 SN - 0951-4198 VL - 38 IS - 12 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Wiley online library AN - OPUS4-59857 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Falkenhagen, Jana A1 - Dalgic, Mete-Sungur A1 - Weidner, Steffen T1 - Quantitative MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry of Star-Shaped Polylactides Based on Chromatographic Hyphenation N2 - The end groups of three- and four-arm star-shaped polylactides (PLA) with trimethylolpropane and pentaerythritol core structures were functionalized with acetic acid. Reaction products with different degrees of functionalization were analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. Additional gradient elution liquid adsorption chromatography (GELAC) measurements were performed to determine the degree of functionalization. This technique enabled clear separation and sufficient quantification of the formed species. These chromatographic data could be used inversely to quantify mass spectrometric results, which are usually biased by the unknown ionization probabilities of different polymer end group structures. Our results showed that, in this particular case, the peak intensity in the MALDITOF mass spectra can be used to semiquantitatively determine the degree of functionalization in incompletely functionalized multiarm PLA. KW - Polylactides KW - MALDI-TOF-MS KW - Gradient elution liquid adsorption chromatography PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-625292 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/jasms.4c00491 SN - 1879-1123 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - American Chemical Society (ACS) AN - OPUS4-62529 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -