Investigation of silver binding to polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers by ESI tandem mass spectrometry

Electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) was used to probe the binding of silver ions and reduced silver species with polyamidoamine generation 1 amine-terminated (PAMAMG1NH2) and generation 2 hydroxyl-terminated (PAMAMG2OH) dendrimers. At Ag(+)/PAMAMG2OH molar ratios of 1, 2:1 and low abundance 3:1 complexes emerge. Similar results were observed for PAMAMG1NH2. The collisional activated dissociation (CAD) patterns of the dendrimer ions are characterized by losses of amidoamine branches resulting largely from hydrogen migration and cleavage reactions. Ag+/dendrimer complexes are characterized by the loss of a dendrimer branch from the complex, with the silver ion remaining bound to a dendrimer fragment. When the Ag+-bound dendrimer complexes are reduced by hydrazine, low abundance complexes, whose m/z values are consistent with ones containing zerovalent silver species, are observed in the mass spectra. Complexes with three silver atoms are observed in the spectrum containing PAMAMG1NH2, and complexes with four and five silver atoms are observed with PAMAMG2OH. The CAD fragmentation patterns of the complexes formed after the silver reduction are different than those observed for complexes containing one silver ion and are characterized by the ejection of all silver species, possibly as a cluster, leaving the intact dendrimer ion. Experiments with Cu+, Cu2+, and Pt2+ binding to PAMAMG2OH were also done, but reduced metal clusters were not observed in the mass spectra after the addition of hydrazine.