Scott M. Grayson
Tulane University, USA
Title: The use of ion-mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry to elucidate polymer architecture
Biography
Biography: Scott M. Grayson
Abstract
The ability to characterize and differentiate polymers of diverse architecture or topology remains a challenge among polymer scientist. Traditional characterization techniques such as mass spectrometry can provide absolute molecular weight, while size exclusion chromatography can enable a determination of the hydrodynamic radius. By comparing these data, along with additional techniques bsuch as viscometry, the extent to which a polymer exhibits a more collapsed or extended confirmation can be determined. However, ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry (IMS-MS) provides an attractive alternative to these approaches, as this single technique simultaneously separates the components of a polymer sample by both drift time (which correlates to the size for a given charge state) and molecular weight. The resolution provided in both of these dimensions is beneficial not only for determining the macromolecular architecture, but also in the more challenging problem of determining architectural purity. The application of IMS-MS to elucidating polymer architecture will be probed with a number of case studies including cyclic, branched, and linear polymers.