Abstract
Electrospray ions of several samples of poly(ethylene glycol)s (PEGs) were examined and characterized by three different analyzers including two quadrupole mass filters and one ion trap. Also shown are some data obtained by MALDI-TOF. Comparison of the results with those obtained some years ago shows that relatively modest increases in instrument resolving power can greatly change the appearance of a spectrum and increase its information content. However it also seems possible that too much resolving power may actually decrease the accessibility of desired information. Also presented are some results on the effect of polymer solutes on the deformation of droplets subjected to intense electric fields. The observations suggest that such materials may profoundly affect the fundamental processes involved in the formation of solute ions from charged droplets.
