Positive mode electrospray tandem mass spectrometry of poly(methacrylic acid) oligomers

The dissociation of small poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) cations produced by electrospray was characterized by tandem mass spectrometry. Similarly to PMAA ions produced in the negative ion mode, the two electrosprayed cationic forms, namely [PMAA+Na](+) and [PMAA-H+2Na](+), were shown to fragment via a major pathway consisting of successive dehydration steps. Elimination of a water molecule would occur between two consecutive acid groups in a charged-remote mechanism and was shown to proceed as many times as pairs of acidic pendant groups were available. As a result, comparing the number of dehydration steps observed in the MS/MS spectrum of two consecutive oligomers from the polymeric distribution reveals the degree of polymerization of the molecule. Secondary less informative reactions were shown to consist of losses of CO and/or CO(2), depending on the nature of the precursor ion. These fragmentation rules could be used to characterize PMAA-based copolymers, as successfully demonstrated for a polymeric impurity in the tested PMAA sample.