Laboratory of Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry (IOMC), Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Humboldtstr. 10, 07743 Jena, Germany; Jena Center for Soft Matter (JCSM), Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Philosophenweg 7, 07743 Jena, Germany.
Laboratory of Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry (IOMC), Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Humboldtstr. 10, 07743 Jena, Germany; Jena Center for Soft Matter (JCSM), Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Philosophenweg 7, 07743 Jena, Germany; Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI), P.O. Box 902, 5600 AX Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Anal Chim Acta. 2014 Jan 15;808:56-69. doi: 10.1016/j.aca.2013.10.027. Epub 2013 Oct 21.
Mass spectrometry (MS) is the most versatile and comprehensive method in "OMICS" sciences (i.e. in proteomics, genomics, metabolomics and lipidomics). The applications of MS and tandem MS (MS/MS or MS(n)) provide sequence information of the full complement of biological samples in order to understand the importance of the sequences on their precise and specific functions. Nowadays, the control of polymer sequences and their accurate characterization is one of the significant challenges of current polymer science. Therefore, a similar approach can be very beneficial for characterizing and understanding the complex structures of synthetic macromolecules. MS-based strategies allow a relatively precise examination of polymeric structures (e.g. their molar mass distributions, monomer units, side chain substituents, end-group functionalities, and copolymer compositions). Moreover, tandem MS offer accurate structural information from intricate macromolecular structures; however, it produces vast amount of data to interpret. In "OMICS" sciences, the software application to interpret the obtained data has developed satisfyingly (e.g. in proteomics), because it is not possible to handle the amount of data acquired via (tandem) MS studies on the biological samples manually. It can be expected that special software tools will improve the interpretation of (tandem) MS output from the investigations of synthetic polymers as well. Eventually, the MS/MS field will also open up for polymer scientists who are not MS-specialists. In this review, we dissect the overall framework of the MS and MS/MS analysis of synthetic polymers into its key components. We discuss the fundamentals of polymer analyses as well as recent advances in the areas of tandem mass spectrometry, software developments, and the overall future perspectives on the way to polymer sequencing, one of the last Holy Grail in polymer science.
质谱（MS）是“组学”科学（即蛋白质组学、基因组学、代谢组学和脂质组学）中最通用和全面的方法。MS 和串联 MS（MS/MS 或 MS(n)）的应用提供了生物样本完整组成的序列信息，以便了解序列在其精确和特定功能中的重要性。如今，控制聚合物序列及其准确表征是当前聚合物科学的重大挑战之一。因此，类似的方法对于表征和理解合成大分子的复杂结构非常有益。基于 MS 的策略允许对聚合物结构进行相对精确的检查（例如，其摩尔质量分布、单体单元、侧链取代基、端基官能团和共聚物组成）。此外，串联 MS 提供了来自复杂大分子结构的准确结构信息；然而，它产生了大量需要解释的数据。在“组学”科学中，用于解释所获得数据的软件应用已经得到了令人满意的发展（例如，在蛋白质组学中），因为不可能手动处理通过（串联）MS 研究在生物样本上获得的大量数据。可以预期，特殊的软件工具将改善对合成聚合物研究中（串联）MS 输出的解释。最终，MS/MS 领域也将向非 MS 专家的聚合物科学家开放。在这篇综述中，我们将合成聚合物的 MS 和 MS/MS 分析的整体框架分解为其关键组成部分。我们讨论了聚合物分析的基础原理以及串联质谱、软件发展等领域的最新进展，以及聚合物测序的整体未来展望，这是聚合物科学的最后一个圣杯之一。
