Matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging method for visualizing spatial distribution of synthetic polymers combining with Kendrick mass defect analysis

Abstract

Matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry is a powerful tool for the analysis of synthetic polymers. This technique can determine molecular weight distributions, which are often expressed as number average molecular weight (M_n), weight average molecular weight (M_w) and dispersity (D). We have investigated a imaging mass spectrometry (MSI) visualization method for synthetic polymers that uses M_n, M_w, and D as indices. We also applied the Kendrick mass defect (KMD) analysis to improve this method. By using this method, several dozen to hundred of mass images corresponding to each polymer’s degree of polymerization were integrated into four mass images related to the total ion intensity, M_n, M_w, and D. As a result, the polymer distributions on sample surface become much easier to overview.