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Effects of molecular entanglements during electrospray of high molecular weight polymers

  • Focus: Synthetic Polymers
  • Published:
Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

Concentration-dependent bimodal size distributions (comprised of single-molecule particles and multimolecule clusters) observed by microscopic examination of particles collected during electrospray (ES) of dilute solutions of high molecular weight polymers suggest that chain entanglement can interfere with the droplet subdivisions believed to be intrinsic to the electrospray process. The feasibility of such interference is discussed in the context of the spray model of Kebarle, along with its potential impact on the ES mass spectrometry of macromolecules.

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Author notes

  1. Reinhard Festag

    Present address: McKinsey & Company, Inc., Taunustor 2, 60311, Frankfurt, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

    Reinhard Festag, Spiro D. Alexandratos, Bernhard Wunderlich & Kelsey D. Cook

  2. Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

    David C. Joy

  3. High Temperature Materials Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA

    David C. Joy

  4. Chemical and Analytical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA

    Bernhard Wunderlich & Brian Annis

Authors
  1. Reinhard Festag
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  2. Spiro D. Alexandratos
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  3. David C. Joy
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  4. Bernhard Wunderlich
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  5. Brian Annis
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  6. Kelsey D. Cook
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kelsey D. Cook.

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Festag, R., Alexandratos, S.D., Joy, D.C. et al. Effects of molecular entanglements during electrospray of high molecular weight polymers. J Am Soc Mass Spectrom 9, 299–304 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1016/S1044-0305(98)00004-X

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1044-0305(98)00004-X

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