Comment: A Simple,Low-Cost,Air-Spray Method for Improved Sample Preparation for Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionisation Mass Spectrometry of Derivatised Poly(Ethylene Glycol)

Abstract

A simple, low-cost, air-spray technique has been evaluated for the preparation of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation (MALDI) sample slides. Hydroxyl end groups of poly(ethylene glycol) M_n = 600 were functionalised by esterification using acetyl and butyryl chlorides. Air-spray deposition gave excellent shot-to-shot and spot-to-spot reproducibility; the observed compositions by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) being in agreement with those obtained from ¹H NMR. Compressed air-spray is an excellent, inexpensive, sample preparation procedure for simple routine MALDI-TOF MS which increases the reproducibility of this increasingly important technique for synthetic polymer analysis.