Series of Electrospray Ionization-Mass Spectrometry (ESI-MS) analysis has been done on poly(methyl acrylate) (PMA) made via Cu(0)-mediated radical polymerization and its post polymerization modification either via transfer reaction or thio-bromo modification with various thiol namely, 2-mercaptoethanol, 3-mercaptopropionic acid, and benzyl mercaptan. PMA with essentially same DPn bearing various end group was then mixed in different ratios and investigated through ESI-MS. Calibration of ESI-MS compared with 1H NMR showed that ESI-MS could be used as pseudo-quantitative analytical tools for PMA with proton or bromine terminated end group since it has similar ionizability. It was then possible to quantify the evolution of dead polymer in Cu(0)-mediated radical polymerization during and post-polymerization. However, PMA with various functional end groups (-OH, -COOH, and �benzyl) has shown significant difference in ionizability which would be investigate further in its quantitative study.

Effect of the end group of synthetic polymer on ESI-MS: A quantitative study

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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