Tandem Mass Spectrometry in the Analysis of Biodegradable Polymers

A detailed structural characterization of macromolecules plays an essential role in polymer chemistry to establish the success of a synthetic procedure and define specific properties. The performance and degradation rate of biodegradable polymeric materials strongly depend on chemical and physical features as well. Thus, exhaustive structural and compositional analysis of such systems, nondegraded, partially degraded, or fully degraded, is essential. Mass spectrometry (MS) has played a more and more relevant role in biodegradable polymer analysis. The application of advanced analytical techniques for this class of polymers is important for their further development and extension of applications. Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS), which is a basic tool in proteomics, has been applied in recent years for the detailed characterization of polymeric samples, among which biodegradable polymers, mainly using the soft ionization techniques matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). This chapter aims to summarize the investigations by MS/MS analysis in biodegradable polymers and the information achieved.