title: Characterization of poly(butylene terephthalate) by size-exclusion chromatography and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry.
abstract: Poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) samples have been analyzed with size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) using a mixed solvent of 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) and chloroform as the mobile phase. Several matrices and different sample deposition methods have been investigated to analyze PBT with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry (MS). Optimum results have been acquired by depositing PBT on top of a 2,4,6-trihydroxyacetophenone matrix. The found MALDI-TOF-MS method can be used to analyze the end group functionalities of PBT, as demonstrated with the samples at hand. By combining SEC (off-line) with MALDI-TOF-MS, absolute molecular masses of PBT can be measured, and these have been found to be considerably lower than those determined with SEC using polystyrene standards.
authors.affiliation: SyMO-Chem BV, PO Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands. tgtix1@chem.tue.nl
authors.forename: Xianwen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lo
authors.forename: Joost L J
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: van Dongen
authors.forename: Henk M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Janssen
authors.forename: Ronald F M
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Lange
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D002850:Chromatography, Gel / Q000379:methods*; D011091:Polyesters / Q000737:chemistry*; D012015:Reference Standards; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D011091:Polyesters; C041733:poly(1,4-butylene terephthalate)