Off-line size-exclusion chromatographic fractionation–matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry for polymer characterization: Theoretical and experimental study

The parameters affecting the fractionation performance in size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) of broad polymer samples were investigated. Some equations were derived which enable the prediction of polydispersity (PD) in an SEC fraction. Good agreements were obtained between the calculated data and the experimental values. Based on these equations, SEC fractionation conditions were optimized. In the off-line SEC–matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry (MS), two different modes can be employed, i.e., using MALDI-MS to provide an absolute calibration curve for SEC, or using SEC as a sample preparation step for MALDI-MS measurements. It was demonstrated that it is more reliable to use the latter combination, because most problems inherent in SEC can be circumvented. Some guidelines for the optimization of off-line SEC fractionation–MALDI-TOF-MS were given. It was found that under optimized conditions normally only a few SEC fractions are already sufficient to separate a highly polydisperse sample into portions of low PD that can accurately be measured by MALDI-TOF-MS.