Mass spectroscopy and SEC of SRM 1487, a low molecular weight poly(methyl methacrylate) standard

Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization (MALDI) Time of Flight (TOF) Mass Spectrometry (MS) was used to study the molecular weight distribution (MWD) and the number of α-methyl styrene (α-MeSty) repeat units in SRM 1487, a narrow MWD poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) standard reference material of about 6300 g/mol, which was initiated with α-MeSty. It was found that each PMMA polymer chain had from zero to seven α-MeStys per chain. The MWD of the polymer chains containing a fixed number of α-MeStys was obtained. The MWD, Mw, and the average number of α-MeSty at a given molecular weight from MALDI TOF MS compare well with those obtained from more traditional methods such as ultracentrifugation and Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC). The implications of the number of α-MeStys per chain is discussed in terms of the chemistry of anionic polymerization.