Complementarity of solvent-free MALDI TOF and solid-state NMR spectroscopy in spectral analysis of polylactides.

We report systematic studies of solvent-free modification of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (SF MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry in analysis of synthetic polymers employing solid-state NMR spectroscopy as a supporting technique. In the present work oligomeric (M(n) = 4000 g mol(-1)) poly(L-lactide) (PLLA) was employed as a reference sample. The analyte was embedded into four matrixes commonly used in MALDI-TOF analysis of polymers: 1,8-dihydroxy-9-anthracenone (DT), 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHB), 2-(4 hydroxyphenylazo)-benzoic acid (HABA), and trans-3-indoleacrylic acid (IAA).