TY - JOUR A1 - Zeegers, G. P. A1 - Steinhoff, R. F. A1 - Weidner, Steffen A1 - Zenobi, R. T1 - Evidence for laser-induced redox reactions in matrix-assisted laserdesorption/ionization between cationizing agents and target plate material: a study with polystyrene and trifluoroacetate salts N2 - Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) is often applied to assess the dispersity and the end groups of synthetic polymers through the addition of cationizing agents. Here weaddress how these cation adducts are formed using polystyrene (PS) as a model polymer. We analyzed PSby MALDI-MS with a 2-[(2E)-3-(4-tert-butylphenyl)-2-methylprop-2-enylidene]malononitrile (DCTB) as the matrix and a range of trifluoroacetate (TFA) salts as cationizing agents on a range of different targetplate materials (copper, 1.4301 stainless steel, aluminum, Inconel 625, Ti90/Al6/V4 and chromium-, gold-and silver-plated stainless steel). It was found that on a stainless steel substrate the metal cations Al+,Li+, Na+, Cu+and Ag+formed polystyrene adducts, whereas K+, Cs+, Ba2+, Cr3+, Pd2+, In3+, or their lower oxidation states, did not. For the copper and silver substrates, PS and DCTB adduct formation with cations liberated from these target plate materials was observed upon addition of a cationizing agent, which indicates the occurrence of redox reactions between the added TFA salts and the target plate material. Judging from their standard electrode potentials, these redox reactions would not normally occur, i.e.,they require an additional energy input, strongly suggesting that the observed redox reactions are laser-induced. Furthermore, copper granules were found to successfully sequester PS from a tetrahydrofuran(THF) solution, consistent with the view complex formation with the copper target plate can take place prior to the MALDI-MS measurement. KW - Polymer MALDI KW - Cationization KW - Polystyrene KW - Laser-induced redox reactions KW - Target plate material PY - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijms.2016.10.007 SN - 1387-3806 SN - 1873-2798 VL - 416 SP - 80 EP - 89 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-41146 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -