Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry studies of low molecular weight dendrimers.

We report the application of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-ToF) mass spectrometry, with delayed extraction in the reflectron mode, for the characterization of low molecular weight dendrimers. 20 dendrimer samples were measured and 4 typical dendrimers, as examples, are discussed in detail. Several factors that affect the analysis including the matrices used, the concentrations of sample, the solvents and cationization reagent used, were investigated in detail. Experimental results indicate that the type of solvent can greatly influence exact mass measurement. However, sample preparation is generally not very critical for dendrimer analysis using MALDI-ToF since many kinds of matrices and a wide range of sample concentrations can be used efficiently. In addition, the Cs(+) ion can be used to enhance the efficiency of cationization. Some reasons for this behavior are discussed on the basis of results of calculations using Gaussian94 software (a connected system of programs for performing a variety of semi-empirical and ab initio molecular orbital (MO) calculations).