End group structural analysis of polyphenylene sulfide by Direct Insertion Probe (DIP)-MS/MS
Introduction
Pyrolysis/gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py/GC/MS) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) are powerful tools in polymer analysis. In addition to these methods, end group analysis of polymer by thermal desorption / pyrolysis (TDP) -DART-MS has been proposed recently [1, 2]. This is a method of analyzing the volatile components generated when the polymer is gradually heated by a thermal desorption / pyrolysis device by using DART-MS. By gradual heating, unlike Py/GC/MS, moderately fragmented oligomer components can be analyzed by DART-MS. Some of the oligomer components generated include the end group structure by single cleavage of the main chain, which helps to analyze the structure of the polymer. We have already reported an example of analysis of polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) by TDP-DART-MS in MSTips No. 353 [3]. In this application, the same PPS was used as measurement sample, and DIP was used as a heating device. We report on the observation of four series of PPS with different end groups reported in MSTips No. 353 by DIP-MS and the structural analysis of the end groups by DIP-MS/MS.