title: Separation and quantification of the linear and cyclic structures of polyamide-6 at the critical point of adsorption.
abstract: The linear and cyclic structures of polyamide-6 were separated by liquid chromatography at critical conditions (LCCC) and identified with different mass spectrometric (MS) techniques and quantitated by LCCC with evaporative light-scattering detection (ELSD). Electrospray ionization MS was not suitable to identify the higher cyclic structures. For this purpose, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight MS performed better and cyclic and linear structures were oligomerically resolved and separately identified in the mass spectrometer. The highest cyclic structure present and detected was the cyclic pentacontamer. It could be demonstrated that cyclic and linear oligomers follow different ionization and fragmentation routes/patterns. Quantification with ELSD of the components separated by LCCC using a universal calibration curve or an iterative procedure was developed. An area correction to account for different peak widths of coeluting components improves precision and accuracy of the calibration curve and improves quantitation accuracy for the samples analyzed. With these corrected values, no molecular mass dependency was observed for the cyclic and linear structures. Under critical conditions, the linear and cyclic structures of polyamide-6 were separated, identified and quantified.
authors.affiliation: DSM Research, Geleen, The Netherlands. ynze.mengerink@dsm-group.com
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mengerink
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.forename: C G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: deKoster
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: van der Wal
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Claessens
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Cramers
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D002209:Caprolactam / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015394:Molecular Structure; D011108:Polymers / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers; C009916:nylon 6; D002209:Caprolactam