Comment: A simple, low-cost, air-spray method for improved sample preparation for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation mass spectrometry of derivatised poly(ethylene glycol)

Eur. J. Mass Spectrom. 4, 203–207 (1998)
DOI: 10.1255/ejms.211

Comment: A simple, low-cost, air-spray method for improved sample preparation for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation mass spectrometry of derivatised poly(ethylene glycol)

David M. Haddleton,^* Carl Waterson and Peter J. Derrick
Department of Chemistry and Institute of Mass Spectrometry, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL,UK. E-mail: msrgs@snow.csv.warwick.ac.uk

ABSTRACT:

A simple, low- cost, air-spray technique has been evaluated for the preparation of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation (MALDI) sample slides. Hydroxyl end groups of poly(ethylene glycol) M_n = 600 were functionalised by esterification using acetyl and butyryl chlorides. Air-spray deposition gave excellent shot-to-shot and spot-to-spot reproducibility; the observed compositions by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) being in agreement with those obtained from ¹H NMR. Compressed air-spray is an excellent, inexpensive, sample preparation procedure for simple routine MALDI-TOF MS which increases the reproducibility of this increasingly important technique for synthetic polymer analysis.

Keywords: MALDI, compressed air-spray, sample preparation, polymer.

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