Characterization of Low-Molecular-Weight Polyethyleneimines Using GC/CI-MS and GC

Abstract

Pure and modified polyethyleneimines with molecular weights of up to about 400 were characterized using gas chromatography (GC)/chemical ionization mass spectrometry (CI-MS) and GC with a flame ionization detector (FID). Relatively stable molecular ions produced by CI-MS provided information for identifying each polyethyleneimine homolog. FID-GC provided more accurate quantitative information on the distribution of the homologs identified by GC/CI-MS. The levels of various ethyleneamines, potential genotoxicants, could be simultaneously obtained by this approach, providing information used to evaluate the human safety of polyethyleneimines from various sources and synthetic routes.