Surface Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Mass Spectrometry (SALDI-MS) for Analysis of Polyester Degradation Products

Novel surface assisted laser desorption ionization-mass spectrometry (SALDI-MS) method was developed for rapid analysis of low molecular mass polyesters and their degradation products by laser desorption ionization-mass spectrometry. Three polycaprolactone materials were analyzed by the developed method before and after hydrolytic degradation. The signal-to-noise values obtained by SALDI-MS were 20–100 times higher compared with the ones obtained by using traditional MALDI-MS matrices. A clean background at low mass range and higher resolution was obtained by SALDI-MS. Different nanoparticle, cationizing agent, and solvent combinations were evaluated. Halloysite nanoclay and magnesium hydroxide showed the best potential as SALDI surfaces. The SALDI-MS spectrum of the polyester hydrolysis products was verified by ESI-MS. The developed SALDI-MS method possesses several advantages over existing methods for similar analyses.