The application of electrospray ionisation and tandem mass spectrometry to the analysis of polymer additives

Electrospray ionisation (ESI) has been employed in conjunction with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) on a tandem quadrupole mass spectrometer for the analysis of five common organic polymer additives. The distribution of fragment ions and molecule ions observed in the mass spectra was found to be highly dependent on the skimmer cone voltage that was used, especially for the additives of lowest molecular weight (relative molecular mass). The skimmer cone voltage and the collision energy were very important in determining the envelope of fragment ions that were seen in the collision induced dissociation (CID) spectra. Mechanisms and fragmentation pathways have been proposed for many of the product ions that were observed in the CID spectra.