Further-Studies on the Composition And Microstructure of Copolymers by Statistical Modeling of their Mass-Spectra

Abstract: Statistical modeling of the mass spectral intensities of copolymers has been used to derive information on the distribution of monomers along the copolymer chain, and an automated procedure to find the composition and the sequence of the copolymers analyzed has been developed. A deconvolution method to determine the microstructure of copolymers when different chemical species contribute to the same mass spectral peak (that is, when a mass spectroscopic peak has an equivocal structural assignment) is presented. The effect of the partial degradation process on the mass spectra of copolymers is discussed, and a theory is given for the interpretation of the mass spectra of copolymers when the cleavage of the copolymer chain occurs by a selective or nonselective mechanism. A method is also reported to obtain the copolymer composition by direct analysis of the mass spectra. All these theories have been applied to determine the composition and microstructure of several copolymers (both addition and condensation types) whose mass spectra have been reported in the most recent literature.