TGA-GC-MS quantitative analysis of phosphorus-end capped functional polymers in bulk and ultrathin films

An hyphenated method based on thermal gravimetric, gas chromatographic and mass spectrometric analyses (TGA-GC-MS) is proposed for the quantitative analysis of diethylphosphate-end capped polymers with varying chain length, in bulk and as ultra thin film. The method fully calibrated and validated, revealed a powerful and affordable tool in the determination of the amount of phosphorous in polymeric samples but also it allows the determination of the number of repeating units per chain end.