Microstructures of Butadiene Copolymers Determined by Ozonolysis/MALDI Mass Spectrometry

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry of ozonolysis degradation products was used to determine the microstructures of several butadiene copolymers. A random styrene−butadiene copolymer containing 45 wt % styrene was distinguished from a block (ABA) styrene−butadiene copolymer containing 38 wt % styrene. In addition, several acrylonitrile−butadiene copolymers with acrylonitrile contents ranging from 21 to 51 wt % were analyzed. The microstructures for the acrylonitrile−butadiene copolymers were confirmed to be fairly random. Quantitatively, the acrylonitrile compositions determined by ozonolysis/MALDI-MS were close to the reported values for these copolymers (typically within 5 wt %). The discrepancy between the reported and experimentally obtained compositions may be attributed, in part, to a composition bias arising from the ozonolysis process. A simple model for ozonolysis of a random copolymer was developed to investigate the effects of ozone exposure time on the oligomer distributions observed in the MALDI mass spectra.